Disease
by Sayaka M
Summary: R&K 4. Kagome's been feeling a little under the weather, so Robin takes her to see Koga. Once they return to Ningenkai, though, her health deteriorates, and others in the city start dropping like flies. The worst thing is there's no cure...
1. Chapter 1

**I can't remember if this story solves anything, but it occupies the characters for one school year.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, or Witch Hunter Robin. They belong to their respective companies. Any other characters are mine, though I can't really call Jordan and Crystal mine since they're their own persons.**

**Full Summary: Kagome's been feeling a little under the weather, so Robin takes her to see Koga. Once they return to Ningenkai, though, her health deteriorates, and others in the city start dropping like flies. The worst thing is there's no cure...**

**Disease**

The bell rang, signaling that the school day was over. "I'll see you all tomorrow," Mr. Kenu called over the racket caused by students cramming their books into their bags and running for the door. "And don't forget your projects are due."

The students ran out into the courtyard to their lockers, then to their homes. Among these students were Kagome, Michael, Robin, Yusuke, and Kuwabara. After another long day at school, they were going to the Higurashi Shrine to relax a bit.

"Do you think we did enough for the project?" Robin asked.

"Robin!" Kagome exclaimed. "We did our project on the Shikon no Tama. Of course we did enough. We probably overdid it. I mean, we knew things about that era that even the history books didn't know."

"You know, if I were the sort of person that cared, I'd say that Kuwabara and I didn't do our share of the work," drawled Yusuke, strolling along.

"You looked up what the history books actually did say," Kagome pointed out. "Like, it said that Naraku was a human, and Inuyasha and Miroku were just abnormally strong men. Shippo wasn't even mentioned. If we didn't have that, then we would've put the wrong things in, even if they were true."

"You'll all do fine," Michael said. "I had Mr. Kenu for history, and if you add things in that he doesn't know or it's not common knowledge, he'll lap it up. Just don't add anything exotic, like saying that the priestess Kagome could shoot arrows of pure energy. He'd never buy that." He looked thoughtful. "It's kind of sad how history erased demons and magic from our past. Whether we believe it was there or not, it was."

A couple blocks away from the hill where the shrine resided, a friend of theirs, Shuichi Minamino, otherwise known as Kurama, joined them. "How was your day?" he asked as his greeting.

"Mine was good," Michael answered him. "These guys have a project due tomorrow, though."

"Why do I have a feeling that it isn't done yet?" he asked himself.

"Actually, it is done," Yusuke said defensively. "It's been done for a long time."

"That's only because Kagome and Robin know so much about that era," Kurama pointed out, laughing.

"Yeah, so?" he retorted.

"Why did you choose these two to be your partners?" he asked Kagome and Robin, causing steam to come from both Yusuke and Kuwabara's ears.

"Well, we did need someone to look up what history said happened," Robin repeated. "If they didn't do it, we would've had to do it ourselves. They actually helped a lot."

Kurama only laughed and shook his head. It wasn't apparent to Robin, Michael, or Kagome, but to Yusuke and Kuwabara, who knew Kurama better, knew that he still wasn't over his short-time girlfriend, Jordan Lee. The Reikai Tantei had been on a mission, and they had some unexpected helpers. Jordan was one of them. When they had finished, she decided to stay in Makai with her sister Crystal and Serena. That was four months ago. She had told him to get on with his life and not pine for her, but he had yet to obey.

Upon reaching the foot of the climb to the shrine atop the hill, a collective groan went through everyone. They all hated this trek with a passion, but resolutely commenced.

"We need either an elevator or an escalator," Kagome panted as they continued scaling the high hill where the Higurashi Shrine was. "I know I've done this my whole life, but it still is a pain."

"I think you're right," Michael agreed. "It is a pain. When we can afford to put in one of those things, you know I'll be all over that before you can blink."

"I'll help you," Kurama gasped as a cramp made itself known in his side. "These stairs kill me every time."

"They kill us all," Robin said, struggling to keep breathing normally.

Kuwabara was wheezing so much it was impossible for him to say anything, but it was still known that he agreed with them wholeheartedly. After what seemed like hours (though it was only five minutes) of walking, they arrived at the top of the hill. Entering the closest building, they took off their shoes and set their backpacks down.

"Sota, we're home," Kagome called.

"Okay," he called back from somewhere upstairs.

"What are the odds that he's playing that video game again?" she asked rhetorically to her friends.

"Pretty good," Michael said anyway. "I'm going to work on the computer, so unless it's an emergency, don't bother me." He headed up the stairs after snagging chips from the pantry and a cold drink from the fridge.

"Don't you dare spill anything, Michael Lee," Robin mock-threatened his retreating heels. This got a laugh from everyone, but there was a pained look on Kurama's face for a second.

"Let's get something cold," Kuwabara suggested. "It's as hot as a desert out there, and I'm feeling dehydrated."

"Whoa, big words," Yusuke teased him. "Are you sure you know what they mean?"

"What was that, Urameshi?" Kuwabara shouted, taking a swing at the black-haired boy.

He dodged easily and answered with a swing of his own. "I think wittle Kuwabawa's using words he isn't weady for."

"Not in the kitchen," Robin shouted at them. "Take it outside if you need to fight, but not in here."

"Not in the house," Kagome added her own restriction to the violence. "I know boys tend to feel like they need to rough others up, but not inside, thank you."

The boys both sighed and put down their fists. "Fine, fine," they grumbled. Handing them their refreshments, they settled into some chairs. The air conditioner was on, courtesy of either Sota or Michael, so they enjoyed the coolness while they could. Inevitably, Robin started worrying about their project again.

"What if we overlooked something and the teacher caught it?" she asked the tablecloth more than any of her companions.

Kagome rolled her eyes, got a towel, and whapped her on the back. "Just chill, Robin. We've gone over it five times already; I don't think any of us want to see it again until it's time to present it. Am I right, guys?" she asked the boys.

They nodded their heads vigorously. They were all tired of looked at the project forwards, backwards and sideways. So far, they had humored Robin, but when Kagome said enough was enough, they were all ready to stand behind her.

"Fine," Robin sighed. "But still-"

"NO!" everyone shouted, dog piling on her. Muffled protests could barely be heard from the bottom, where poor Robin was being suffocated by the weight of bodies on top of hers. However, the noise of them landing on her made a mad Michael come down, looking like he was ready to kill someone, which he probably was. He stopped dead at the sight that greeted him when he entered the kitchen.

"Do I even want to know what just happened?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so," Kurama answered him from his position on top of Kagome's back and under Yusuke's legs.

An indignant sound came from under them. "Are guys trying to make Robin run out of air?" Michael asked casually.

"No, just make her stop dwelling on the project," Yusuke interjected.

"Well, I think if you stay that way for a bit longer, she won't be thinking of anything," the Junior pointed out.

"Oh, yeah." They got off of each other with some difficulty, but before Robin passed out from lack of air, though it was close. She was gasping for air, and her entire face was red. Kurama, ever the gentleman, helped her back into her seat. She still had an indignant look on her face, but slowly receded as her breath came back.

Kuwabara was studying her, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hey, Robin?" he asked.

"Hm?" She looked at him over her cup.

"What color is your hair?"

Everyone in the room did a facevault. "Hiei's right, you know," Yusuke said from the floor. "You really are a baka. Her hair is obviously…" He looked up and did a double-take. "Whoa, wasn't your hair red before?" Now everyone was staring at her head. She giggled.

"It changes color," she explained. She only got dubious looks for that. "If the light hits my hair a certain way, it's red. Otherwise, it's blonde."

"So what color is it, really?" Kuwabara asked again.

"It's blonde for the most part."

Michael shook his head. "I'm going back upstairs," he announced. "Next time you try to suffocate someone, please be quieter." He went back up the stairs.

"So now what?" Kurama asked. "We've finished your project, so do we just relax?"

"We could," Yusuke mused. "Do you know if Koenma has anything planned?"

"Maybe not him, but his father does," Kurama replied, amusement in his voice.

"I take it that it doesn't have anything to do with us, right?" the Spirit Detective wanted to make sure.

"Not at the moment," the fox assured him. "I overheard Botan talking about it with some of the other ferry girls." He stopped.

"Well? Aren't you going to tell us?" Kuwabara demanded.

"It appears that King Yama wishes for Koenma to marry." He looked at them expectantly.

He got the response he was expecting. Their jaws dropped, and they started laughing their heads off.

"Can you imagine him, married?" Yusuke choked out.

"I know. He's only a toddler, and now he has to be a husband, too," Kuwabara said amid gales of laughter.

"I can't wait to see his face on his wedding day." Now everyone was laughing, even Kagome and Robin, who had never seen him before.

"You mean, you take orders from a toddler?" Kagome giggled.

"Well, he's over two thousand years old; he just takes the form of a toddler," Kurama explained between bouts of laughter. "He does have an older form that he uses less often than the toddler one."

An unintelligible roar was heard from upstairs. "I think we're being too loud again," Robin said. "We're making Michael irritable."

"Maybe the computer didn't do what it was supposed to," Kuwabara suggested. "That could get him ticked."

Robin shook her head. "No, I think it's us. If we're not careful, he'll kick us out."

"But this is Kagome's house," Kuwabara pointed out.

"True, but it wouldn't run quite as well without Michael managing things," Kagome corrected him. "We'd have fallen apart if it wasn't for him. I don't know what we'll do when he goes to college."

"That could be a problem if he handles everything," Kurama agreed. "Maybe you should start taking on some of what he does, or watch him do it."

"That's a good idea," Kagome said thoughtfully. "We can't do it now, though, or he'll throw us out for bothering him again."

"Hey, is there a reason there's no tourists outside?" Kuwabara asked. "Normally there's someone out there."

"We closed for now," Kagome said. "We all need a break, but we'll be starting again tomorrow. We just wanted one day to relax. Why, did you want us to work to death?"

"No, I was just wondering," he replied. "It is an excuse to get out of school, after all. I don't think I was the only one who wanted to know."

"Now you know." She was about to say something else when the doorbell rang. Sighing in annoyance, she stood up. "No need for everyone to get it," she said sarcastically as she was the only one who made to get the door. Putting on a smile, she opened the door. "Welcome to the Higurashi Shrine," she said brightly. "Can I help you?" Then she saw what he looked like.

He was a young man with brown hair and had Jr. written on his forehead. But that wasn't the strangest thing. In his mouth was a blue pacifier, which he was sucking on.

"You must be Ms. Kagome Higurashi," he stated. "I understand that Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Shuichi are here at the moment."

"Ano, yes, they are here, except for Hiei," she stammered, bewildered at his appearance. "May I ask who you are?"

"Yes. I am known as Koenma," he replied, brushing past her. "Now where are they?" he muttered to himself.

"In the kitchen," she answered anyway. "Follow me." She started walking toward the kitchen. Sensing that he was warily following her, she didn't turn around. "In here," she announced, stepping to the side of the door, indicating that he would go in first. Hesitantly, he stepped onto the tile floor of the kitchen, where the people already inside it stared at him.

"Koenma? What are you doing here?" Kuwabara asked.

"I need you," he said shortly. "My father's going to force me to marry someone, so I need a place to hide. Your job is to find a hiding place for me."

"Whoa, hold it," Yusuke protested. "What makes you think we'll do that? If King Yama can't find you, he might tear Ningenkai apart in searching. And if he finds out that WE'RE the ones who hid you, he'll throw us into Makai. You know that."

"We all tried to avoid that fate," Kurama stated. "I won't endanger that because of some trivial matter."

"It isn't trivial!" Koenma shrieked. "I'm going to be made to marry some twit, and I don't have a say in it! I wouldn't exactly call that trivial!"

"You might think so, but it's not that big a deal. You spend most of your time in your office anyway, so you won't see whoever it is very much," Kurama observed dispassionately. "Besides, you might marry a mortal, and then they'll die. This will then free you to be a bachelor, just as you are now."

Koenma sat down and put his head in his hands. "I seriously doubt that my dad will choose a mortal," he moaned. "That's why I need a place to hide. I want to stay single for as long as I can."

"I don't know why you're so antsy about this," Kurama said. "I don't think your father even made it final."

"Actually, it's pretty close to final," Koenma corrected him mournfully. "George told me about it, so I got out of there as fast as I could."

Kagome was still standing in the doorway. "I don't see what's so bad about getting married," she ventured. "I mean, I can see why you'd be hesitant about marrying someone you don't even know, but you'd eventually get along."

The ruler of Reikai stood up abruptly and whirled to face her. "How would you feel if your parents made you marry someone?" he demanded. "You can't possibly understand how this is for me. We don't even know each other!"

Her temper flared. "I know that you're asking them to choose between a rock and a hard place," she shot at him. "I know how much they want to stay here, since I've seen what they'd do to protect that. They can't help you and stay here, and at the same time, they have to or they'll be thrown into Makai. Do you think that's fair to them?"

He stopped short, as if realizing something for the first time. "How do you know about Makai?" he asked.

Kagome sighed. She was about to respond, but after looking at the three guys, who were shaking their heads at her, changed her answer. "We heard them talking about it. It sounds like it's a place where criminals are sent."

He looked slightly relieved. "That just about sums it up," he affirmed. "I don't see why they told you, though."

"They overheard us, and we just told them what it was, so they wouldn't jump to the wrong conclusions," Yusuke said lazily. "After all, we don't want them thinking we're spies or anything like that." They all grinned, but the son of Yama didn't notice.

Koenma threw his hands into the air. "You're hopeless," he said, sounding defeated. "But I still need a place to hide." He began pacing. "Where to go, where to go?" he muttered.

"Don't you think that you should wait until you know who the bride is?" Kurama asked. "She might be the girl of your dreams."

Koenma snorted. "I highly doubt that," he said derisively. "I have to get away while I have time."

"But you'll get them into trouble," Robin spoke for the first time. "He'll think they did what you're asking them to do, and after asking them, he'll exile them, whether they actually did it or not."

Koenma looked at her. "I didn't think of that," he admitted. "But that still doesn't solve my problem."

"Did you even ask him if you had to marry?" Kuwabara asked.

Koenma gave him a withering look. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?" he asked. "I'm not about to do that."

"Actually, she might have a valid idea," Kurama said thoughtfully. "Who knows, he might not make you marry."

Koenma was about to make a spiteful reply when Hiei joined them. Coming into the house, he went to the kitchen and stopped dead in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Oh. Hiei." Koenma laughed nervously. "I was trying to enlist you guys to finding me a hiding place."

"May I ask the reason why?" Hiei looked incredulous that Koenma would ask, and not demand.

Robin answered him. "He doesn't want to get married, so he's trying to find a hiding place by blackmailing these poor guys." She sounded disgusted.

Hiei leveled one of his famous glares at the Reikai ruler. "What makes you think we'd help you?" he asked in a deadly quiet voice. "King Yama would throw us out of Ningenkai."

"Let's take this somewhere else," Koenma said nervously, looking from Robin to Kagome and back again. "I know that you trust these people, but I'd feel better if they didn't know so much about what we do."

"Does it matter?" Hiei asked. "They'll find out eventually."

"I don't think they will," Koenma corrected him, giving him an icy glare of his own. "Unless one of you tells them, that is. Now we need to go." He addressed Kagome and Robin. "I'm sorry for barging in, but it really can't wait."

"Don't do something reckless," Robin advised him. "I don't know who you are, but it's sure to have some affect on us in some way or another."

"You don't know how right you are," Koenma murmured under his breath. "Right then, let's go." He marched the four boys out the door. Robin and Kagome looked at each other and shrugged, then went to work on homework.

&&


	2. Chapter 2

**Gotta go in a few minutes, so I'll just say enjoy!**

&&

Koenma glowered at them. "What do you think you're doing?" he shouted. "You know other people can't know about Reikai! How could you be so irresponsible?"

"Relax," Yusuke said. "It's not like they're demons who'll turn and kill us."

"How do you know?" Koenma shrieked. "They could be taken over with demons that have psychic power. They could be your downfall."

"You're just being paranoid," Kuwabara said dismissively. "They won't turn into weapons that'll kill us all of a sudden."

"There's actually a good chance that they could, if demons figure out that you're friends with them," Koenma said seriously. "They could end up getting hurt, and I don't think any of you would want that to happen. Except for you, of course, Hiei," he addressed the short fire demon. "You don't really care if someone gets hurt as long as it's not Yukina."

"This may come as a surprise to you, but I do care about other people than Yukina," Hiei growled.

Koenma looked shocked. "You? Care about someone other than?" He looked speculative. "I was wondering why you were there. Normally you don't have anything to do with ningens."

"In case you forgot, you assigned me to watch them," Hiei reminded him. "It is possible for people to grow on me. I might not care as much as if they were my friends, but I would notice if something happened to them."

"Oh, that reminds me." He snapped his fingers. "Did you ever find out where that energy was coming from?"

"I'm getting there," was his evasive reply. "So far, I've found that the residents are mikos, or at least one is. They know we're demons, but as long as we stay on our best behavior, then she won't do anything."

"Just an ordinary miko is making all that?" Koenma asked incredulously. "You'd think there is an army of priestesses, with all those power outbursts. That must be one heck of a miko."

"Mikos and priests have been living there for a long time," Hiei said smoothly. "What we're feeling is her power, yes, but also the power of all the people who lived there. The whole area soaks up their power, and it leaves an imprint. It's almost like the area fossilized a part of their power, and it aids the current residents."

Koenma whistled. "I didn't know that could happen." He started pacing, and everyone knew he was focused on his earlier problem. "I don't know how I can get any work done if I have this marriage fiasco hanging around my head?" he groaned. "It's hard enough trying to get through all that paperwork without making too many mistakes, and now he adds another weight to it!" He looked hopefully at them. "Any suggestions?"

"I think you should stay in Reikai for now," Kurama suggested. "Like Robin said, anything you do will affect us somehow. Don't forget, King Yama did destroy lots of areas on Ningenkai a long time ago. Think of what he'll do if he's furious, and he's looking for you."

Koenma gulped. "I guess you're right," he reluctantly admitted. "That was really bad. I can't remember what upset him, but it probably isn't even close to what mood he'd be in if he found out that I was hiding somewhere in Ningenkai."

"Exactly," Yusuke said triumphantly. "So why don't you go back to Reikai, do whatever you do, and worry only after you know for certain you're marrying some old hag like Genkai."

Kurama and Koenma looked at him reprovingly. "That isn't nice," they said at the same time. "She's a very powerful woman," Kurama continued.

"And she can still beat you, even though she already transferred the bulk of her power to you," Koenma added. "I wouldn't say that marrying someone like that is a bad thing."

Yusuke held up his hands. "That wasn't what I was talking about," he said hastily. "I meant someone as sarcastic and insulting and old as she is."

They all shuddered at that. Not at the age, but the small lady could be very sarcastic and insulting. They had all felt her sharp tongue at least once, Yusuke more than anyone else since he was her apprentice. They all loved her, true, but she could be hard to get along with when she was in one of her moods. Yukina was the only one she didn't snap at, but that was just how Yukina was; everyone loved the little ice-blue-haired Koorime.

Koenma resignedly set his shoulders. "I guess I'd better get back, then," he sighed. "It's been nice knowing you guys."

"It's not like the marriage will be soon," Kurama soothed him. "You still have some time."

"Maybe." The ruler of Reikai dragged his feet away from them and back to Spirit World.

Yusuke sighed. "Now that that's taken care of, what do you guys want to do?"

They shrugged. "I'm going to Genkai's Temple," Hiei stated. "It's been far too long since I've been there."

"Good idea," Kuwabara agreed readily. "I need to see my lovely Yukina again."

Hiei growled at this, but, as usual, the big ningen didn't hear him. Kurama, however, did. "Why don't you tell him?" he asked as Kuwabara walked ahead of them with Yusuke.

"Hn. That buffoon? I'd rather kill him than tell him," Hiei retorted.

"He probably wouldn't do that quite so much if he knew," Kurama persisted.

"No. The fewer people that know, the better," Hiei said simply. "That means there's less of a chance that someone will…" he trailed off.

"There's less chance of someone going after her, but that wasn't what you were going to say," Kurama finished for him. "I still don't understand why you don't tell her. You didn't tell us, but doesn't she have a right to know?"

"I have my reasons," he stated. _I promised Sigure I wouldn't tell her, and I intend to keep that promise._

Kurama sighed. "You know that you're causing her much distress, Hiei. Here she is, wondering where her older brother could be, and you're here standing right in front of her, yet saying nothing. She even left the land of the Ice Maidens to find you."

"I'm aware of this, fox," Hiei replied, outwardly calm, but pained on the inside. Oh, yes, he knew how it hurt her, but it also killed him. He wished he could, but Sigure… No, he had to keep her in the dark, as well as the baka, who would most assuredly blab what he knew.

"She'll eventually find out." Kurama shut up. Finally. Hiei tired of constantly badgered about why he withheld the information from Yukina, but he could never tell her. Not until he was either dying or Sigure released him from his promise, which would probably be never. He could just imagine what his reaction would be if he asked. He shuddered at the thought; yes, he, a hardened criminal, was shaking at the mere thought of asking for permission. Maybe he wouldn't say it _exactly_ like his imagination made him sound, but it would be fairly close.

Hiei was so lost in his thoughts that he ran right into Yusuke's back. Annoyed, he looked up to see why the ningen stopped so suddenly, and realized that they were standing right outside Genkai's Temple.

Yusuke glared over his shoulder at Hiei's spikes, since Hiei was too short for him to see his face. "Watch where you're going, Hiei."

Hiei mumbled something unintelligible and moved around the taller boy to see what was so interesting. Genkai was walking sedately down the stairs, and Yukina was already chatting with Kuwabara, who was being a baka, as usual, and trying to show off. When she saw Hiei, though, she apologized to Kuwabara, who looked crestfallen, and ran to Hiei.

"Have you found my brother?" she asked him, her beautiful eyes full of hope. Hope that he would shortly dash.

"No," he said, once again, and her eyes dulled as she looked down. It appeared that she was close to tears. Again. Hiei hated himself for doing this to her, but a promise was a promise, and there's no changing that. "I will keep looking," he added, as always.

She smiled, albeit sadly, at him. She always believed him. "Thank you, Hiei," she said, hugging him. He returned her hug, causing Kuwabara to go entirely red with rage and jealousy. Her hope was still there, but it would be dashed next time she asked, and he would falsely raise them again, just to dash them again. He was stuck in a circle where he would always hurt the one person he cared about most. Well, except for those people at the Higurashi Shrine and those beneath the well.

"I've been expecting you for some time, Dimwit," Genkai was addressing Yusuke.

"Well, I've been busy," he said to aged psychic. "So, how've things been?"

"Not quite as exciting as some people think, but exciting enough. Have you heard of an organization called the 'STN-J'?"

He frowned. "Yeah, actually, I've met a couple of them. Why?"

"They make me nervous. Just the other day, they came and took someone I knew, a fellow psychic. All she was doing was defending herself against a demon, and they took her just for using her powers." The old hag's fists were clenched together and she looked furious. "Sometimes they take innocent humans, because a demon was in their area and used its power, and that unfortunate human was the only one who could've done it, in their eyes." At Yusuke's confused look, she chuckled darkly. "Ordinary humans can't see demons. Only those who spend an extended amount of time with them can."

That seemed to clear things up for the Spirit Detective. "So what do you want me to do about it?" he asked casually.

"Find out what's happening to them!" Genkai barked. "If you can, get them out of there. They even give me the creeps. What they're doing isn't helping the humans they've captured."

"What makes you think I can do anything?" he asked.

"You said you know some people who work there. Find out what's going on."

Yusuke backed up. "Whoa, slow down. They _used_ to work there. They don't anymore. Besides, even if they did, it's too late for those humans now."

"What do you mean?" she asked sharply.

"From what Robin saw, the witches they catch are as good as dead. She doesn't know what is done with them, but they're sent to a place called the 'Factory', and that's all I need to know."

"Then I guess I'll have to find out what's over there myself," Genkai stated, turning her back on Yusuke and climbing back up the stairs.

"Not by yourself, you aren't," Yusuke protested, tripping over his own feet to get in front of her.

"So you're volunteering yourself?" she asked quickly.

"You bet I am!" he declared, then thought about it for a second. "Hey!"

The old psychic only laughed. "You knew that your big mouth would get you into trouble someday," she reprimanded him. "Now you're going to help me find out what's going on in there."

"Don't you think you should maybe take someone along that actually knows the area?" Hiei jumped in, not like his usual introverted self.

They turned to look at him in surprise. "Well, the silent shorty finally asserts himself," Genkai said sardonically. "Who did you have in mind?"

"Either Michael or Robin," he replied. "Robin would probably be best, since she knows where they are kept. Michael was always forced to stay in the compound, but Robin knows what's in the Factory. Just make sure you don't get caught." He glared fiercely at them. Yusuke seemed to get the hint. _Don't let them catch Robin, or you'll find yourself being roasted over a bonfire the size of Ningenkai for the next million years._ Of course, knowing Yusuke, he probably thought he had feelings for the girl. He did have feelings for her, just not the ones Yusuke was thinking of.

"Anything you say, Hiei," Yusuke said cheerfully.

"Hn." Now Hiei was done listening to that conversation, and turned his ears elsewhere. Kuwabaka was still trying to show off for Yukina, and Kurama was watching them with a wistful smile. _He needs to be distracted, or he'll go off into another depression thinking about the what-ifs of himself and Jordan._ He wandered over and stood next to the redhead. "Yusuke and the hag are going to try and break into the Factory compound. Sound interesting?"

"Mildly," he replied in a distant tone. "How would they propose to do that?"

"Using Robin as a guide," he said. "I think I'd like to be there when they do. It won't be boring, at least."

"True," Kurama agreed. "I might just join you three."

"Then I'll just go tell them." Once again crossing over to Yusuke arguing with his former mentor about something, Hiei informed them that the two demons would be joining them. Yusuke gaped at him, while Genkai said, "How am I not surprised? Just be ready to go. We won't wait for stragglers."

_I feel like an errand boy,_ he grumbled to himself as he told Kurama not to be late. Looking at the shadows around them, he realized that it was getting late, and if they were going tonight, it might be a good idea to let their guide know that she was guiding them. _I really am an errand boy._ He bounded through the trees, and landed outside the Higurashi Shrine just as the sunset turned a brilliant shade of red.

"Robin?" he called, entering the house.

"I'm in the kitchen," she answered.

"You're always in the kitchen," he retorted.

"I know. So why did you call me?"

"Just in case you were in a different room." Now came the bad news. "Genkai, Yusuke's former teacher, Yusuke himself, Kurama, and I are going to the Factory, and we need a guide."

She froze. Fear was radiating off her in waves. He didn't want to do this, but she was the only one who had ever been in the Factory before, so they had no choice.

"I wouldn't ask you if I thought that we could do this without you," he said gently, "but we don't know what's in there."

She gulped and visibly steeled herself. "A-a-all right," she stammered, trying to pull herself together. With shaking hands, she steadied herself and used the wall to support her as she made her way to the stairway. "Just let me change," she squeaked.

Waiting downstairs, he tapped his foot until she reappeared in her usual black Victorian dress and a firmer grip on her emotions. She was still terrified, but she wasn't being overcome by it. He could still see her shaking, but it had gone down some.

"Ready?" he asked. Judging from the look on her face, she wasn't, but she nodded anyway. She held onto him while he used his speed to get them to the Factory, taking the directions from her mind. They arrived to find Kurama, Yusuke, and Genkai already waiting for them as well as Kuwabara, which was an unpleasant surprise, in Hiei's opinion. "What's he doing here?" he demanded.

"He volunteered to come along," Genkai answered. "Now you can either whine and stay here or shut up and be good." Turning to Robin she said, "So, you're the girl who knows this place. We don't have all day; let's get going!"

Startled, Robin stared at the old woman before cautiously walking up the steps leading to the Factory. The rest of them followed her into the dark building.

"At this rate, I'll be well over a thousand years old by the time we get anywhere," Genkai complained. "I'm a strong believer in caution, but this is ridiculous."

"We have to be careful that no one sees us," Hiei informed her. "Robin is a hunted witch, and they'll shoot her if they catch her. They'll shoot us, too, as a matter of fact," he added as an afterthought.

"But still, we can go faster," Genkai argued. "We can sense if someone's close, so if we speed things up we'll get done faster.

"Robin? Can we go faster?" Kurama asked, wanting to head off the argument before it got too heated. "We can still move discreetly, but I agree with Genkai in this; the pace is quite slow."

She sighed, but quickened her pace. Hiei shot death glares at the redheaded fox, but was ignored. They hurried past many corridors and doors, or as fast as they dared. Everyone kept their senses stretched for other people wandering the halls, but came across no one. It could have been that everyone was in the downstairs region, but that wasn't likely. Climbing staircase after staircase wasn't as big a problem for any of them as it would have been a year ago, since Genkai climbed stairs ever to day to get to her home, and everyone else had to face the steps of the Higurashi Shrine. Still, it didn't stop them from complaining.

"Did they have to put so many stairs in?" Yusuke panted as they ascended yet another set of stairs.

"Seriously, haven't these people heard of escalators or elevators?" Kuwabara agreed with his friend. "No wonder you and Michael don't work here anymore," he said to Robin.

"We didn't work here," she corrected him. "We worked in a different stop, and it had elevators. If it didn't, I don't know if anyone would still work there." She stopped in the middle of stepping onto the next step, causing Yusuke to run into her.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" he asked as he helped her back up under the baleful eye of Hiei. "Sense something?"

She nodded. "We've been going the wrong way," she said softly.

"What!" they all asked incredulously.

She smiled sheepishly and put one hand behind her head. "The holding place for the witches is downstairs," she said brightly.

Everyone facevaulted. "Do you mean to say that we've been heading in the wrong direction the entire time?" Yusuke asked in a dangerous voice.

"They're doing something that has the witches' aura upstairs, and I just realized that it was just the energy, and not the witch," she explained, heading back down the stairs. "I think they're making the Orbo."

"This is going to take forever, and we won't learn anything from this trip if we don't pick up the pace," Genkai stated. "Hiei, do you think you can run ahead and check if anyone's within hearing distance on the way down so we can move faster?"

He nodded. "I'll be right back." In a black blur, he sped down the stairs and returned. "There's no one around. It's safe enough to run." He picked up Robin, leaving the others in the dust. When they finally caught up with him and Robin, they were all panting and afire with curiosity why he carried her down.

"Hey, Shrimp, why'd you carry Robin down?" Kuwabara blurted out, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

The short demon looked away. "She's the slowest, so taking her saved time. Now we can keep going down." He turned on them and started strolling down the stairway leading down deep under the ground.

Behind him, he heard Robin being bombarded with questions. _Why can't they believe that I would do something like that?_ He wondered irritably.

_Because normally you **don't** do things like that,_ his annoying conscience said. _They don't know what she is to you._

_Apparently,_ he wryly agreed as he heard Kuwabara ask her if there was anything going on between them.


	3. Chapter 3

**It's Christmas Break! I've been waiting for this for a long time. This is a short chapter, but I'll get the next out tomorrow or Monday. Who knows; if I get feedback saying y'all want two chapters out, I might be able to do that. But you'll have to tell me. **

&&

Down they went, down more stairs and corridors, and by the time they passed their fifth staircase, they were done with bothering Robin with their questions. He could hear them buzzing in their minds, but they could sense other humans near them, and had to keep silent. Robin stopped in front of a door and held up a hand, signaling for them to stop.

"In here," she mouthed to them, pointing to the door. Opening the door slowly, she slipped inside and the others followed her. "They're kept in here," she whispered. "There're no people around, but sound travels too easily here."

"How do you know that?" Kuwabara asked quietly.

"Look around you. This place is filled with metal, which bounces the sounds from inside here to other rooms. If we're not careful, then everyone will know that we're in here."

"Okay, you heard her," Genkai said. "Let's start looking at what's in here. But remember, we have to be quiet, and we have to hurry. Good luck." She started walking quickly toward one end of the room. Taking their cues from the old woman, they chose a spot and started looking for witches. Hiei opted to stay near Robin, just in case.

"What are we looking for exactly?" he asked. "It doesn't look like there are any humans here."

She frowned. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "Still, there must be a place to dispose of the bodies, at least. I think they just use their Craft, not their bodies, so there must be a place where the bodies are." Stepping over to one of the elevated cylindrical shapes on the floor, she knelt beside it and proceeded to study it carefully.

Bored, Hiei used his superior eyesight to see how the others were doing. Genkai was looking around, trying to find her fellow psychics. Kurama was also looking around, not finding what he was looking for. Yusuke and Kuwabara were just looking lost, not really doing anything.

A gasp from Robin brought his attention back to her. "What is it?" he asked, thinking she found something. He was right.

"I-I-I think I found what we're looking for," she whispered. Pushing a few buttons on the top, the cylinder-shaped thing rose up and glowed the sickly green of the Orbo. Disgusted, she backed away, horror written on her face. Floating in the green fluid was a person, or a shadow of a person. It wasn't substantial, and looked like it would collapse if it hadn't been floating in the Orbo.

By this time, the movement had attracted the attention of everyone else, and Genkai pushed her way past them to the front. "Satsuki!" she gasped quietly.

"So we finally found her friend?" Yusuke asked. "She doesn't look like she's even alive anymore."

"I don't think she is," Robin whispered back. "I mean, she's alive, but barely. It would take a lot of work to get her back to normal."

"Look at Genkai," Kurama said softly.

The old psychic was staring wildly at her friend, not willing to believe what she was seeing. She was trembling, both with rage, worry, and fear for her friend.

Footsteps caught Hiei's attention. "We have to get out," he said sharply. Taking hold of Genkai, as the old woman wasn't about to move, they followed Robin out a different door and through another maze of stairs and corridors. Much to everyone's amazement, they made it out without anyone seeing them.

"Did you find what you wanted to see?" Robin asked them, panting for breath.

Genkai was still in shock, but was able to answer her. "Yes," she said heavily, "I found it."

"I think it would be prudent to leave now, before someone sees us," Kurama pointed out.

"Yes," Robin agreed, "it's time to go. I guess I'll be seeing most of you tomorrow."

"That's very likely," Kurama said. "Good night." He turned away and started walking home.

"That's it, then," Genkai said. "Don't think this is the last we'll be seeing of the Factory, but that's all for tonight." She followed Kurama's example, and left them.

They all dispersed, and Hiei walked with Robin back to the shrine.

"Did you know what was in there?" he asked her quietly.

"I could guess, but I wasn't sure," she said shakily. "I knew the captured witches went there, but they said that it was more humane than killing them, but now I'm not so sure."

She was upset; he could see that. "Will you be okay?" he asked, wishing he had never said anything about her being associated with the STN-J.

Robin sighed. "Yeah, I'll be fine," she assured him. "In time, I'll be fine."

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	4. Chapter 4

**Two chapters, just like I promised. The reason I'm updating so late is because my sisters were on the computer, but never fear, I got it back!**

&&

"Kagome, we're back," Hiei's voice rang through the front hall.

Kagome put down her pencil and walked down the stairs. "Where have you been?" she demanded. "You didn't tell anyone where you were going, making us all sick with worry about the two of you!"

They cringed against her onslaught of words, but Robin answered anyway in her shaking voice. "We didn't know we would be going out until two minutes before it was time to go. Sorry." She flashed an apologetic smile at the fuming Kagome.

With a visible effort, Kagome let go of her anger and sighed. "I guess it really isn't any of my business anyway," she said ruefully. "I'm just glad that you're both safe, that's all."

Hiei looked contrite. "We didn't mean to worry you," he said, looking down at his black shoes.

"It's okay, I guess," Kagome assured him. "You weren't hurt, and that's all that matters right now." Looking at the clock, she gasped. "Did anyone know it was this late! And it's a school night, too. That's just great. Good night all." She waved and sped up the stairs. Just as she was closing her door, she heard Robin race up the stairs and run into her room and shut the door.

_I'm not even done with my homework,_ she moaned internally. _At least it's the last period of the day. I'll just try to finish it during lunch._ With that in mind, Kagome turned out the light and crawled into bed.

When the sun wasn't even up yet, her alarm clock screamed at her to get up. Groaning, she felt around for it and clicked it off._ Please, just another several hours._ Alas, that was not to be. Michael, knowing how she tended to ignore her clock when she stayed up too late, barged into her room, saying in his insanely cheerful voice at five in the morning, "Time to get up, Kagome! We have school today, and it won't wait for you to get up at noon."

"Go 'way, Michael," she muttered, burying her head underneath her pillows.

"I don't think so," he retorted good-naturedly, taking the pillows off her head and throwing them on the floor. "I'm not going to let you be late to school because you slept too late, now come on, it's time to rise and shine!"

"You're too much of a morning person for your own good, Lee," she said, still sleep-fogged. "I think you're the most morning person a morning person could be."

"I don't think what you just said made sense, but okay," he chirped. "Meet you downstairs." He left, closing the door behind him.

_Why am I stuck with the happiest morning person that ever existed?_ She asked herself, making her bed and going through the motions of getting ready for the day. Randomly picking a uniform from her closet, she pulled it on and trudged down the stairs, her backpack seeming to weigh ten times more than it did last night.

"Morning, Robin," she said dully, pouring herself a bowl of cereal, mimicking the motions of the girl sitting opposite her.

"Good morning," Robin greeted her back, sipping her espresso. "I take it that you didn't get enough sleep last night."

"How could I, when I was staying up waiting for you and Hiei to get back?" Kagome asked sleepily. "Besides, I wasn't done with my English homework yet, so I was doing that. I'll have to finish it during lunch now."

"Good luck with that," Robin said, putting down her cup. "It's time to go now, though, so better eat on the road."

Kagome sighed. _I'm just really behind today._ Still, she dutifully put her things in the dishwasher and gathered her school supplies. Following Robin and Michael, she stumbled down the stairs and walked toward the school.

She was still zoned out through her classes and at lunch, she brought out her unfinished homework, and just looked at it. _Why can't I focus? Is there something wrong with me? No, I'm just tired, that's all._ Resolutely turning all her thoughts to her English homework, she stared at the paper, but none of it made any sense.

"Kagome?"

She snapped her head up and looked dazedly into the concerned faces of Robin, Yusuke, Michael, and Kuwabara. "Hm?"

"Didn't you hear us calling you?" Robin asked. "Are you okay?"

She waved aside their concern. "Yeah, I'm fine, just lacking sleep. I'll be fine. Really." They didn't look very convinced, but left it at that. _What is with them? I'm just not getting enough sleep. That's it. That has to be it._ Putting all her attention into the paper in front of her, she managed to finish all the homework, but didn't eat anything. _I'll eat something in math,_ she decided. However, when she got there, she wasn't hungry, so just left her lunch untouched. Now that wasn't very strange, except she only had one bite of breakfast, so she should've been starved. But that never crossed her mind.

When the school day was done and they had a weekend to look forward to, she had little homework, and it was time to go back to the Feudal Era. She would've been skipping, except she felt weaker than usual. Running up the stairs and into the house, she dumped her school things on her bed and started packing some clothes, making sure that there was still plenty of room for chocolate and ramen noodles. Repacking her school supplies, she lugged it down the stairs into the kitchen and threw food into the open hole.

When she was done throwing things into her bag, to her surprise, Michael picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. "I'm not going to see this bag for a while. Mind if I take it down?" he asked.

Not sure if he was serious, she nodded cautiously anyway. Trailing down the stairs after him, she walked by Robin and asked in a whisper, "Do you know if he's okay?"

"Yeah, he seemed fine earlier," Robin replied, sounding surprised. "Why?"

"He just offered to carry my bag to the well for me because he wasn't going to see it for a long time. That's just not like him."

Robin waved it aside. "He's just sad that we're leaving, that's all," she assured Kagome. "I mean, he's never been able to go because he has to stay here and manage the tourism."

"Maybe we should close the shrine and take him with us," Kagome suggested.

The blonde shook her head. "That wouldn't be the best idea," she said. "Michael's attached to his technology, and to take him away from it would be a form of torture."

"If you say so," Kagome said. By that time they were at the well, and Michael was waiting for them to jump down.

"Bye guys. I'll see you Sunday, right?" he asked.

"Bye, Michael," they chorused together. "We'll be back soon."

Knowing that they were "going out", Kagome left down the well to give them some privacy before Robin had to leave. _They haven't had a lot of time alone. They deserve some time to themselves. You know, I haven't been able to see Inuyasha for a few months now. I wonder what's going on._

Climbing out of the well, she threw her bag over the edge, wondering why it had gotten so difficult to so simple a thing; she had been doing that for years, and it had been a while since it had been that hard to throw. With an effort, she got it back on her shoulders and started trekking toward the village. _I know I should wait for Robin, but she knows the way by now, and she knows I haven't seen anyone in months._

The home of Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku was out in Inuyasha's Forest, but it was very close to the village, just outside its borders. Inuyasha was either there or…somewhere else. He could be anywhere, but since Kaede died, it wasn't likely that he was in the village. Walking along a semi-new path that led to their home, she heard the squeal of small voices and the patter of little feet. After rounding a corner where she could observe and not be observed, she saw Makikazu and Misao crawling as fast as they could around the front of the house with Inuyasha on his hands and knees, chasing them. She watched them for a few moments, then stepped into view.

"Hi," she called out cheerfully. "Long time, no see."

The two children turned to her immediately, shrieking happily. She knelt down and took them into her arms, hugging them.

"I missed you guys," she said, kissing them. "Now where are your parents?"

They started squirming, so she put them down, and they crawled into the house. Standing up, she felt two arms encircle themselves around hers.

"What about me?" Inuyasha's low voice asked, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.

"I haven't forgotten you," she said, turning to face him. "They just got to me first."

His beautiful golden eyes showed his true feelings. His worry and love for her practically made his eyes glow with so much emotion. It almost seemed like it wasn't Inuyasha who was looking back at her; when they first met, he would've rather died than show his emotions to anyone. Now, though, in the presence of his friends, he wasn't afraid to show them anymore. Even if she wasn't adept at reading his eyes, the fierce way he kissed her would've told her more than words ever could.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long," she murmured. "We've had so much schoolwork that I couldn't come without dropping my score below an acceptable level."

He said nothing, just held her possessively, as if afraid that if he let go, she would disappear again.

"She won't vanish if you let go of her, Inuyasha," a male voice said from the doorway of Miroku and Sango's home. Turning their heads, they saw that Miroku, Sango, and their twins were standing there. "Good to see you again, Kagome," Miroku finished, grinning. "You've been gone for far too long."

Inuyasha growled low in his throat, holding her closer to himself. "Inuyasha," Kagome chided him gently. "You need to learn to share."

Reluctantly he let her go, and she ran to Sango, embracing her first. "I've missed you all," she said, moving on to Miroku. "What have I missed?"

"Not much, unless you count Kira making a fuss," Sango said, smiling.

"What is she complaining about now?" Kagome sighed. It had been about a year and a half since she had met the selfish miko that now ran the village. However, she hadn't seen her since Kaede died.

"Not much, just the fact that we're corrupting our children." Miroku had an angry look on his face.

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, not sure how either of them could corrupt their children, unless it was to spoil them, and that didn't happen very much.

"We're friends with demons and half-demons, so our children are subject to demon influences. We all know how Kira feels about non-humans," he said dryly. Oh, yes, they all knew. "She believes that she is doing right by insisting that if we continue to be on friendly terms with demons of any kind, then we should give her Makikazu and Misao. Unfortunately for us, some of the villagers are starting to side with her. A few of them remember what happened about fifty years ago when Inuyasha destroyed the village and killed Kikyo, and many of them remember a few years ago when he was once again released."

"But Inuyasha protected them after that," Kagome protested. "Did they forget that easily?"

"Oh, no, they remember," Sango assured her. "They're still polite to him, Shippo, and Kirara, but they said that the younger generation might not be as friendly." She sighed. "It's not like Kira is an evil person; I've seen her around the other villagers, and she is just like Kaede then. She just can't get over her prejudice of demons, and that prejudice extends to humans who associate with demons."

"I guess it's a good thing that you decided not to build your home inside the village, then," Kagome said. "I mean, she is now the most powerful person in the village, except for the elders. Still, I don't think the villagers would stand to have someone's children being taken from them."

"You'd be surprised," Miroku stated. "Some have already shown open support of the idea, saying that it would be good if Kira could train them to be a priest and priestess while they are still young."

"Enough about Kira," Sango put her foot down. "You just got here, and we're making it a gloomy occasion." She looked around in confusion. "I thought Robin would come with you."

"Oh, she is. I just left earlier so she and Michael could say a private good-bye. She should be here soon."

Just as she finished saying that, the aforesaid person walked into view. "Hi, everyone," Robin greeted them cheerfully.

Once again, hellos and news were exchanged. Robin was shocked that Kira wanted to take away their kids, but was content with the fact that if she ever tried, they would permanently take up residence in their time.

"The villagers don't give you a hard time?" she pressed.

"The older villagers don't," Miroku answered, "but the younger humans are easily influenced by their teachers. Or in this case, teacher."

"Let's not darken the mood again," Kagome suggested. "Is there anything cooking?" She looked at Sango hopefully.

"Oh, that right!" Sango slapped her forehead. "Come in, dinner will be served whenever I get to the kitchen." She and Miroku took a child and walked into the house with Robin on their heels.

"Oof!" _Since when did this bag get so heavy? I can't even lift it!_ To her surprise, the bag lifted itself out of her hands.

"I'll take this for you," Inuyasha said, slinging it over his shoulder. "Come on, did you want to miss dinner?"

As it turned out, dinner was a noisy affair. There was a lot of talking, laughing, and good humor all around. The twins were a riot, getting into food fights that someone had to break up or it would encompass the entire table. Just one person was missing: Kohaku.

"Hey, where's Kohaku?" Kagome asked.

Shippo, who had taken to staying with Sango and Miroku, answered her. "He was called away to exterminate some demons in a village close to the former home of the demons slayers."

Kagome cast a quick glance at Sango, but she didn't seem overly upset like she would've been a few years ago.

Sango caught her glance and smiled. "I've come to somewhat accept their deaths," she said. "It's taken quite a while, but I did it. Now Kohaku has, too."

After everything was put away, Sango directed Robin and Kagome to where they would be staying. "You don't expect me to let you stay in the village when we're right here, do you?" Sango demanded when they said they didn't want to impose on her. "You know that Kira hates you, and will try to take the Shikon Jewel from you again."

Inuyasha carried her bag for her again. _What is with everyone and carrying my bag for me? I know that he isn't doing it because he misses it._ "Do you stay here now, instead of just anywhere?" she asked him.

"Not usually," he said.

"What about tonight?"

"Maybe. It depends on if I'm wanted."

"Well, you're wanted, but not if you plan on talking all night." She looked down, her eyes darkening. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time, so I'm going to see if a change in scenery is what I need."

He nodded. "Then I'll be quieter than a mouse," he promised.

"Good. Then you can stay." She flopped onto the mat provided by their hosts and watched Inuyasha put her bag in one of the corners, then settle next to her. She snuggled into his ready arms and laid her head on his chest. "I've missed you, you know."

He held her close with one arm. "I know. We wondered why you hadn't come to see us in a while."

"Why didn't you come for me?" she asked. "Nothing stopped you from doing it earlier."

He sighed. "We wanted to, but Kira was making a fuss about Makikazu and Misao, so Sango and Miroku were tied here, and I stayed to help them out."

_I don't know what Kaede saw in her when she chose her to be her successor. Why couldn't she have chosen someone who was less…spoiled, or selfish? I seriously doubt Kaede would've wanted the new priestess to harass us like Kira does._ Silence reigned for the rest of the night.

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	5. Chapter 5

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Kagome woke to the smell of something good cooking. Curling into a ball, she felt, or didn't feel, the absence of another body beside hers. Turning around, she saw that Inuyasha had already left. With a distinct feeling of disappointment, she closed her eyes again, thinking. _I'm still tired. I know I couldn't sleep last night, but I don't know why. Hopefully Inuyasha didn't notice; he tends to worry too much about things like that. It's good to be with him again._

The mat moved, meaning that someone had gotten on it. Opening her eyes to slits, she saw Inuyasha, looking at her with love and worry in his eyes. _Uh-oh, he knows. Now I won't be allowed to do anything, and by now the rest of the household knows that I didn't sleep well last night. Might as well get this over with._ Fully opening her eyes, she smiled at Inuyasha. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," he returned, and then got right to the point. "Kagome, why didn't you tell anyone you were sick?"

"What do you mean?" she asked. "I'm not sick."

He didn't look convinced. "Kagome, you haven't been sleeping well; you said so yourself. That's not normal for a human."

"Oh, Inuyasha," she sighed. "I'm fine; well," she hastily amended, "I'm fine for the most part. Just because I haven't slept well in a while doesn't mean that I'm sick. I just need to do more things, that's all."

He didn't say anything, but Kagome knew that he hadn't been won over, not by a long shot. Well, he would just have to believe her when she said that she wasn't sick. They all would.

The smell of cooking food wafted through the room. "Smells like breakfast is almost ready," Inuyasha commented, turning his head towards the door.

"You go eat," Kagome told him. "I'll eat once I've changed."

As he headed towards the door, he called over his shoulder, "You're not doing anything today, got that? If you can't get enough rest, then you're not well enough to do anything else."

Kagome shook her head. _Why does he get like this? When we first met, he wouldn't have cared if I had been on my deathbed; I would've had to go after the shards of the Shikon Jewel anyway. Now he's way overprotective. I didn't know it was possible to go from one extreme to another, but I guess it is, unless he's a special case._ Crawling over to her bag, she picked out a plain white t-shirt and jeans and threw them on. Old habits die hard, and when you're spending time in the company of a certain lecherous monk, you learn to change as quickly as possible.

Following her nose and ears, she found the eating area, which happened to be the main room. Sango passed her a bowl of whatever it was that she and Robin had made. Mechanically spooning the food into her mouth, she looked around at the others. Sango and Miroku, both looking tired, were trying to feed Makikazu and Misao, who weren't making it easy. Robin was calmly watching their efforts, a small smile on her face. Inuyasha was also observing, his face showing a mask of disinterest. Of course, that was all it was, a mask, and they all knew it. Still, old habits die hard, especially for him, and he had kept all his emotions hidden from the world until he had met them. Shippo was inhaling his food at the speed of light, and didn't pay much attention to anything else.

Smiling to herself, she ate her breakfast and was about to head out the door when Inuyasha stopped her.

"Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously.

"Um, out?" she tried answering vaguely enough not to reveal anything but enough to get him to leave her alone. Unfortunately, he wasn't convinced.

"You're not getting away that easily. Where are you going?" he pressed.

She hung her head. "I wanted to see the village," she confessed. "I know people there and I wanted to see how they were doing."

He shook his head. "I don't think that's such a good idea," he said. "You know Kira doesn't like you, and she's been poisoning the villagers' minds for a while now."

"I know, but I'd still like to know how they were doing. I've known them for five years, and I've made friends with some of them. They'll be glad to see me."

He still looked doubtful. "If you're going, then so am I," he declared. "There's no way you're doing this without me."

"Okay," she agreed and the two of them went through Inuyasha's Forest to the village where their friend and teacher Kaede had resided until she died.

Later:

"I can't believe the way some of those children acted," Kagome fumed as they walked back to Miroku and Sango's home.

"I told you; Kira's been teaching them that all demons are bad," Inuyasha explained again. "Still, the older villagers were polite and remembered I'd saved them before."

"That's just not right," Kagome continued.

"Just forget about it," Inuyasha said. "It doesn't bother me that much anymore, and since I'm the one they threw rocks at and I don't care, you shouldn't either. Now come on, we've been gone all day; they'll be missing us."

Sure enough, Robin was waiting for them when they walked in the door. "Where have you two been?" she demanded.

"Um, we went to the village to do some visiting," Kagome explained. "Sorry we were gone so long. Were we needed?"

The blonde sighed. "No, but we were a little worried that something happened. But now that you're here, it's time for dinner."

They all sat around the table and everyone (minus Sango and Miroku) was amused by a repeat of what happened at breakfast.

"So, what were the plans for tomorrow?" Kagome asked Robin, who was sitting to her right.

"Well, I wasn't planning on doing anything too taxing. Why?" Robin continued to watch the antics of the new parents and their first children, but her attention was on Kagome.

"Well, I was thinking about wandering around for a bit, maybe looking up Koga and seeing how he's doing." At Robin's inquiring look, she explained, "Koga's a friend of ours that we haven't seen in a while." She frowned. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him in about two years. I wonder what's kept him away."

"Where does he live?" Robin asked curiously.

"In the mountains," Kagome replied.

"Ano, I don't know if it's such a good idea to be mountain-climbing right now," Robin said hesitantly. "Both Miroku and Sango have young children to attend to now, and the mountains are dangerous, you told me."

"Yeah, but if we're careful it shouldn't be too bad," Kagome reasoned with her. "Come on, Koga's nice. He'll love to see us again and meet you." When Robin didn't look convinced, she resorted to her last trick. Giving her the puppy look, she looked up at the other girl and begged. "Please?"

Unable to withstand the look, Robin's resolve toppled. "But you're taking it easy," she warned the Kagome, who readily agreed now that they were going.

"Yay!" Kagome cheered aloud, hugging the startled blonde. At the others' curious looks, Robin enlightened them about the trip they were about to embark on. Inuyasha's reaction was fairly predictable.

"No," he said flatly. "Kagome's too weak to travel out there. Besides, they might not even be there anymore."

"Aw, come on, Inuyasha," Kagome pleaded. "We haven't seen Koga in a long time, and I think he'd love to see us again."

He snorted. "You, maybe, but there's no love lost between us."

"Well, you don't have to go if you don't want to, but Robin and I are," Kagome stated.

"You're not going without me!" he stated.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Are you sure you're sure?"

"Yes!"

"Can we leave tomorrow morning?" she asked.

"Yes!" Then he thought about it for a second. "Hey!"

"Thank you, Inuyasha," she said sweetly. "Now we have to go to bed early so we can be ready to leave tomorrow. Good night guys," she said as she put her dishes away and left for her room.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," she heard Miroku say to the others. "Isn't she sick?"

"Traveling when you're not at your best isn't the smartest thing to do," Sango agreed. "Going through the mountains probably isn't the wisest thing for her to do. Why did you say she could go, Inuyasha?"

"It wasn't my fault," he said defensively. "She tricked me."

"She doesn't seem to be very sick," Robin said in her defense. "She's been doing fine. If she wants to go see this Koga person, then I think she should. We'll just be very careful."

"And what happens if she gets worse?" Inuyasha demanded. "She could be stuck up in the mountains with no medicine. That's fatal in most cases."

"That's what you're here for," Robin said. "There aren't hanyous or demons around to help them in most cases. If things get bad, then all you have to do is carry her back to the nearest village and they'll take care of her."

Silence. Then, "I keep forgetting that you aren't familiar with the way things run here," Miroku said. "If he were to carry her to a village, they won't tend her for free. For another thing, like you said, he's a hanyou. Demons are rarely accepted in most villages, and even if it accepts full-blooded demons, hanyous are never accepted. They would be chased out and not treat her, or else they would take her and not let her go with him."

"Oh."

"Maybe it would make Kagome feel better if she saw Koga again," Sango said softly. "I wish he would come here, but I don't think that's possible, so we'll have to go to him." The rustling of clothes announced that she had stood up. "I don't think allowing her to travel in her condition is a good idea, but it has been awhile since we saw him. If we're leaving early tomorrow, then I'm going to bed. Good night, all."

Kagome hurriedly left the doorway where she had been eavesdropping and entered her room. Crawling under the blankets covering her futon, she closed her eyes and tried to take slow, even breaths, but her mind was still working and wouldn't let sleep come. _I'm finally going to see Koga again! I wonder how he and Ayame are?_ She cringed at the thought of having to see Ayame again. _I hope she's gotten over that jealousy of hers. I mean, it's been two years since we last saw each other. She can't still think that Koga is in love with me, right?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something crawling at top speed through the hall and into her room. Opening her eyes, she saw Makikazu look around the dark room and make his way onto the empty side of her futon.

"Makikazu!" she heard Sango whisper fiercely. "Get out here!"

The boy only giggled and curled into a ball.

Sango sighed and pushed back the beaded curtain separating this room from the hallway. Looking around, she noticed immediately there was a small lump on the side of the futon closest to the door. Silently she crossed over to the futon and pulled the blankets covering the lump back, revealing her son, who promptly started squealing when he discovered that he had been found.

"Shh," she shushed him. "We don't want to wake up Aunt Kagome."

"It's okay, Sango," Kagome said as she reopened her eyes. "I was already awake."

"I'm sorry about this," Sango apologized as she picked up her son. "I'll try not to let this happen again."

Kagome smiled. "It's okay," she repeated. "See you tomorrow."

When Sango and Makikazu were out of the room, she turned over on her other side and closed her eyes again. _What time is it?_ She thought idly. Opening her eyes again, she reached over for her watch and turned on its light. One forty-seven a. m. glared at her with its red numbers. _I wonder what's keeping Inuyasha. He's usually here a lot sooner._ No sooner than she thought that when she heard soft footsteps in the hall again. Unfortunately, the footsteps passed right by her door and continued on their way down the hall. She sighed. _Where is he?_

&&


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay new chapter!**

&&

Inuyasha paced outside the home of his friends. _How could I agree to let her go through the mountains like she is?_ he raged inwardly at himself. _She's too good at getting me to do what she wants. Why can't I stand up to her like I used to? _The cold air tugged at his hair and cooled his temper somewhat. _I'm not going to change things by walking all night, so I might as well try and sleep in a place with a semblance of privacy. Once we leave, there won't be any time to be just with her, especially once we get into the wolf demons' territory._

He walked back inside, going into the room he shared with his Kagome. He could see her form on the futon, and her quiet, steady breathing told him that she was asleep. _At least she's catching up on lost sleep now._ Carefully he lay down beside her, wrapping his arms around her. Burrowing his face in her hair, he breathed in her sweet scent. _If only we could stay like this forever,_ he thought wistfully. But no, that wasn't to be. She would insist that they go find the wolves' den in the morning and nothing short of a natural disaster was going to stop that. _For a human, she sure is tough. Not even demons are enough to stop her from getting what she wants. They're all strong, my friends. Most humans are weak and don't want to do any more work than is necessary. Yet these humans tracked Naraku for years, enduring far more than anyone should in ten lifetimes. Yes, Naraku destroyed their former lives, but still, not even a demon would've kept after him for as long as they did._

Kagome muttered something in her sleep, causing him to come out of his thoughts. _I need to get to sleep. That mangy wolf might be mated to Ayame, but that doesn't mean that I can let my guard down._ He closed his eyes and fell into darkness.

&&

Kagome woke late the next morning; according to her clock, it was 9:27 in the morning.

"Oh, no, we have to go!" she said aloud, throwing off her blankets and sitting up, which proved to be a mistake when her vision started to go black. Shaking her head to clear it, she got up slowly and picked up her backpack. Walking out the door, she almost ran right into Miroku, who happened to be walking past.

"I'm sorry, Miroku," she apologized to the startled monk. "I didn't know you were out here. Where's everybody else?"

Recovering his composure, he answered her, "They're out in the main area waiting for you to wake up."

"Thank you," she said as they both continued on their way. Her bag was unusually heavy, and she had no idea why. She remembered that she hadn't put in anything that would've loaded her down, like her Chemistry book or anything like that, but then why was it feeling this heavy?

"You're finally up," Robin commented from her position on the ground playing with Misao when she saw Kagome enter the room.

"Yeah, I don't know why I slept in so late," Kagome confessed. "But I'm ready and raring to go if everyone else is."

Inuyasha stood up and said, "Might as well get this over with." Crossing over to where she was, he took her backpack off her shoulders and hefted it onto his own. "If we're going to get to the mountains by nightfall, then we have to hurry."

"I left a note for Kohaku if he comes while we're gone," Sango said as she got onto Kirara with Misao on her lap. "Kagome, are you riding with us or is Inuyasha carrying you?"

"I'm going with you," she said and climbed up behind her friend with Robin behind her. Miroku passed her Makikazu and got the supplies that Kirara and Inuyasha couldn't carry.

"If we're all ready," the monk said, looking at them for confirmation. At their nods, he stated, "Then let's be off."

&&

The view from Kirara's back was amazing; while you got a bird's-eye-view on a plane, they were much closer to the ground on Kirara and they could feel the wind on their faces. Personally, Robin was enjoying her ride, even though she had to hang onto various bags of supplies instead of a child. _I'm afraid it looks like Michael's going to have to use Kagome's old sicknesses recurring to cover for us. I'm sorry, Michael. I really meant to be back by today, but if this makes Kagome feel better, then I have to try it._

"Hey, Robin, how're you hanging?" Kagome called over her shoulder.

"It's great," Robin shouted back. "I can't wait until Flame can do this."

"Yeah, I know. I wish we could take them with us."

"Why can't we?"

Kagome frowned. "I don't know about you, but Star is still young, and I'd rather she wasn't eaten. I don't think she knows how to properly defend herself yet, so I'm just leaving her in relative safety for now."

"You have a point," Robin conceded. "At least we know they're in good hands with Michael and Hiei on the job."

Kirara started to descend at that point. "What's going on?" Kagome shouted to Sango.

"We just saw a pack of wolves coming towards Miroku and Inuyasha," she shouted back. "If they're part of Koga's pack, they may not recognize them, and if they're not, they may think they're intruders and attack."

Even as they landed, the wolves trotted into sight. They started growling at them as they caught sight of them, making Sango's theories true, whichever one it was. The two babies were given to Kagome and Robin to protect while the rest of them got in front. Even Shippo, who used to be the one who had to be protected, was ready to set fire to the wolf pack.

Sensing that they were going to attack them, the wolves charged. They outnumbered the group's fighters, but still couldn't break through to get to the children and their guardians. The defenders were at a disadvantage because they didn't want to incur Koga's wrath by killing off his wolves, so they only injured them. Inuyasha had to use only his fists and pull his punches, while Miroku used his staff and Sango blocked them with her Hiraikotsu, and Shippo used his illusions the best he could since he didn't want to burn them.

Sensing that they were losing, the wolves fell back, regrouped, and started howling. This made no sense to Robin, but apparently it did to Kagome because she tensed up when the first haunting howls reached their ears. Behind the wolves, what looked like a whirlwind was speeding their way. It roared in front of the wolves and disappeared to reveal a young demon. His long black hair was tied in a ponytail and a leather band kept his bangs out of his ice-blue eyes. It looked like he was wearing wolfskins and that was it.

At first he seemed angry, but when he saw who it was, he grinned. "So, Mutt-face, come back for a butt-whipping?" he addressed Inuyasha.

"Hah! You wish," the hanyou retorted. "You're the one who's going to get whipped."

"Koga!" Kagome called. "We've come to visit for a while."

Faster than lightning, he was at her side and had one of her hands in both of his. "It's been too long, Kagome," he said to her. "You look more beautiful than the last time I saw you."

She blushed. "Thank you," she said simply. "Sorry we were fighting with your wolves; they didn't remember us and attacked."

"It's fine, they'll live," Koga said. "If they attacked you then they deserve every broken bone they got. They should know better than to attack friends." Then he noticed Robin, Makikazu and Misao for the first time. "Who're they?" he asked curiously.

"The two little ones are Makikazu and Misao, Sango and Miroku's children," Kagome explained. "The blonde girl with them is Robin; she joined us not long after you gave us your shards."

The demon walked over to Robin. Stopping in front of her, he studied her for a minute, then took her right hand and shook it. "My name's Koga," he said. "I'm the leader of the wolf pack in this region."

Robin shook his hand back. "I'm Robin, from Kagome's village," she introduced herself. "It's good to finally meet you."

Kagome stepped in at this point. "We've come to visit you," she repeated. "Do you know how hard it was to find you? And why didn't you ever visit us?"

He looked sheepish. "Sorry, Kagome," he apologized. "Things have been real busy around these parts for the past few years. I'll try to visit sooner next time. Come, you all must be tired." He and Kagome started walking back the way he came while the rest of them took up the rear. Inuyasha, predictably, was silently fuming as he and the rest of them followed the wolf demon and Kagome to where the wolves made their lair.

"Koga!" two other wolf demons called as they ran to where their leader was. "Did you find out why the wolves were calling?"

"Sure did," he responded. "They didn't remember Kagome or her friends and attacked them. They'll be hurting for a while, but none of them were killed, so they'll be fine."

"Hey, Kagome," the demon with a mohawk said. "It's been a long time. How's life been treating you?"

"Hi, Hakaku," Kagome replied. "We're all doing well. How are things here?"

"Not much has been happening," the other demon answered her. "We hunt for food, warn other demons not to come onto our territory, and that's about it."

"I'm just glad that Naraku person is gone," Hakaku said, shuddering. "It makes me enjoy what peace we have now. Before we knew about him, I'd have given anything to have some excitement, but after all those years of running after Koga while he chased him, it's a good feeling to have a lair to come home to after a day of hunting. Right, Ginta?"

"You said it," Ginta agreed. "Now what brings you folks out here?"

"They're visiting for a while," Koga answered him. "Now go prepare their rooms for them."

"Koga, we can all stay together," Kagome said quickly before Ginta and Hakaku could leave. "We only need one big room, right, guys?"

They all quickly agreed with her, and the two demons ran to do as they were bid.

Shaking his head at his two oldest friends, Koga turned to them and said, "Let's go in and eat something. You people prefer your meat cooked, right?" He started walking towards a different cave and the rest of them followed close behind.

"Does he not cook his food before eating it?" Robin asked Sango as the two women walked together.

"No, he's a wolf demon, so he eats things raw. Well, I think he's changed his eating habits since they didn't sit well with Kagome, but I could be wrong."

&&

When they all entered the den, they saw that Koga was talking with someone who ran off as soon as Koga turned his back on him.

"The food's being prepared as we speak," he informed them. "Just sit down and they'll bring it to you."

Just then three young wolf demons ran in and latched onto Koga. "Daddy!" they squealed. "Did you find out why the wolves were crying?" one of them asked.

"Were there strong demons trying to take over our land again?" another one asked.

Laughing, Koga detached them from his person and addressed them. "I did find out why the wolves were crying, but they weren't trying to take our land. They had just forgotten some old friends of mine and attacked them. It's all sorted out now, though." Turning to his guests, he said, "These are my pups, Kyo, Michiru, and Mika."

Kyo, the eldest, looked like a carbon-copy of Koga. Same hair, same face, same eyes, same everything. Michiru looked exactly like Ayame. There was no doubt that she was related to that redheaded wolf demon. And then there was Mika. Like her brother, she had Koga's long black hair, but her fur and deep green eyes were her mother's. All three of them were adorable, as most young children were.

"How old are they, Koga?" Kagome asked, smiling at the young pups.

He thought about it for a moment. "They're about two. Why?"

"They look so big for two-year-olds," she said.

He puffed out his chest proudly. "Wolf demons mature faster than regular demons. They'll be able to hunt by themselves in a few years."

Their food arrived at that point, along with Ayame. Kagome was a little wary about meeting Koga's mate again, but it didn't seem that Ayame still bore that much animosity towards her and her friends. She sat next to Koga and greeted them all with friendly smiles. They all ate and talked about what had happened in the past two years (omitting certain details, like going to Makai or traveling through the well). Ayame even spoke with Kagome without any sign of the malice that had tainted their relationship two years ago.

The five youngest people present were busy looking at each other and trying to figure out what to make of them. Makikazu and Misao, who were not even one year old, observed the three wolf pups from their parents' laps while the pups did the same from their position by their parents.

Dinner wasn't as eventful as it had been in the past. The twins of Miroku and Sango behaved themselves, and the pups knew better than to embarrass their parents with bad manners. The adults still talked amongst themselves, and the time flew by. When the children showed signs of being tired, the rest of them called it a day. Bidding everyone a goodnight, the wolves and their guests split ways for their beds.

&&


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't have much to say except I love Christmas vacation!**

&&

They ended up staying with the wolves for a week. They frolicked in the fresh air, got to know each other better, and generally had a good time. Ayame had gotten over her jealousy of Kagome and all the females, including the younger ones, spent the days together. The men were a little different. Koga and Inuyasha still teased each other and occasionally competed when there was something to be done, like hunting and other things, but they were more tolerant of each other than they were before.

Their stay with the wolves did wonders for Kagome. Right before Robin's eyes, she seemed to visibly get healthier and more robust. She laughed more and the circles under her eyes disappeared. She commented on her findings to Inuyasha, who agreed with her.

"I didn't think that coming here would be a good idea, but it looks like I was wrong," he said as the two of them stood under the stars. "I'm very glad to be wrong in this case."

"I'm glad she's recovering, too," Robin stated. "She's been so frail, and now it's like she can take on the world. I never would've believed that she would get better so fast. Unfortunately, we have school in two days, so we have to get back tomorrow. I told Michael that we were going to go back last week, but with this…" She spread her hands out before her. "I just hope we don't have too much homework."

Ayame came out and joined them. "It's been nice getting to know you all," she said seriously. "I don't remember when Koga was this happy."

"As much as we'd like to stay, we have to get home," Robin said. "It's great being here, but Kagome and I have things we need to do. We'll be leaving in the morning."

The redheaded wolf demon looked at the ground. "That's too bad," she said. "We'll miss you. I promise we'll try to visit. It's been great having you all here. Don't be strangers."

They bid her goodnight and went into their guest den where the rest of them were staying. "We have to leave tomorrow," Inuyasha announced when they entered the den. "Robin says that she and Kagome have to go back." His face showed his feelings about their reasons for leaving.

"Yeah, we missed a week of school; I don't think we can afford to miss any more days," Kagome said regretfully. "Sorry, guys, but Robin and I have to go. You can stay if you want, though."

Of course, no one was going to do that, so they packed their things in preparation for the following day. The wolves weren't happy to see them leave, but with promises to return, the gang left for their home in Inuyasha's Forest. Upon reaching their goal that night, Robin and Kagome bid everyone farewell and headed for the well with Inuyasha while the rest of their party entered Sango's home. Robin went on ahead of Kagome and Inuyasha to give them a chance to say a private good-bye and jumped down the well by herself. Once the blue light faded, she tossed her bag over her shoulder scaled the side of the well.

"We really need to get a ladder or something," she said aloud once she reached the top. "It's such a hassle trying to climb out every time we need to."

"You certainly took your sweet time getting back," a voice said from behind her. Turning, she saw Hiei leaning on the doorframe. "What took you so long?"

"We stayed with the wolf demon," Robin answered her 'son'. "It did wonders for Kagome's health, so we stayed longer than we thought we were going to. Did anything happen while we were away?"

"Not much," he said. "Michael almost had a heart attack when you didn't come home last week, and he has been distraught since then."

Remorse flooded through her. "I guess I'd better go apologize," she murmured, walking past him and to the house. Letting her bag fall to one side, she walked up the stairs to the study where Michael was most likely to be. Surprisingly, the room was empty. Going to his room, she looked in, but it was as empty as the study. Sliding down the banister, she entered the kitchen, and there Michael and Sota were sitting at the table, eating fast food and studying.

"We're back," she said softly. Michael shot up and was hugging her before she knew what had hit her. Unfortunately, he was holding her so tightly that he was cutting off her air supply. "Michael," she gasped, "I can't breathe."

He loosened his death hold on her, but wouldn't let go. "You're really back," he murmured over and over, almost like a mantra.

Behind him, Sota wandered over and asked, "Is Kagome with you?"

She smiled and nodded. "She'll be coming along soon. She just stayed behind for a few minutes longer to say bye to Inuyasha."

Speaking of the devil, Kagome appeared in the doorway with Hiei right behind her. She hadn't even stepped through the doorway when Sota latched onto her like he would never let go and would've knocked her right over if Hiei hadn't been behind her to steady them.

"Yes, Sota, I'm really here," his big sister said laughingly. "You don't have to crush me. You're getting stronger; you need to be more careful with me."

Immediately he let go. "Sorry," he said, turning red. "We were just worried about you, that's all. You said that you were coming back last Sunday, and when you didn't come back, we thought something bad happened."

"Nope, we're still as safe as ever," she assured him. "Now that we're back home, I'm just going to get something to eat and go to bed since we have school tomorrow. Did any of you need me before then?"

They all shook their heads, but stayed with her and Robin while they ate. Michael seemed to have to be touching her to believe that she wouldn't just fly away the minute he let go, and Robin was amused to see that Kagome had the same problem with Sota. Hiei just leaned against a wall and watched them. When they were done, Sota thoughtfully took their dishes to the sink for them. Robin shouldered her bag and started up the stairs, but stopped to watch as Hiei snatched Kagome's bag before she could reach it and darted past her.

"Hiei!" Kagome shouted indignantly. "I can get my own bag, thank you very much! I don't need everyone to keep grabbing it for me."

The fire demon reappeared and looked down at her. "Well, if you want to carry it yourself, then you have to get there first," he called down to her calmly. "Otherwise, someone else will get it, and you won't have the right to say anything about it."

She still looked like she wanted to beat him over the head, but she settled for just shaking her head and walking to her room. Robin did likewise and, after throwing her things on the floor next to her bed, walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower before someone else got all the hot water. After she finished, she went to her room and fell onto her bed. Unfortunately for her, she knew she'd be cold in the morning if she didn't get under the blankets, so she dredged up the last of her strength to pull the blankets back and crawl under them. Once that was done, she was out like a light.


	8. Chapter 8

**No message today.**

&&

Robin's alarm clock went off the next morning, waking her. Reaching out a hand without opening her eyes, she turned it off and went back to sleep. Five minutes later, it went off again, this time more insistently. Growling, she turned it off and sat up.

"Whoever invented the alarm clock deserves to be shot," Robin muttered darkly as she dragged herself out of her warm bed and out into the cold. Shivering, she hurriedly pulled on the school uniform and got ready for the day. When she was ready, she grabbed her bag that was now filled with schoolbooks that Michael probably put in there since she most certainly didn't. She passed Michael on her way downstairs and entered the kitchen. Moving mechanically, she got breakfast together and set the table. By the time she was done, Michael was practically dragging an owl-eyed Kagome to the table and sat her in a chair.

"Eat," he commanded, pointing to the eggs on her plate.

Obediently she picked up her chopsticks and put the food in her mouth. Satisfied that she would keep going, he sat himself down and started on his own meal. Robin watched them both eat as she prepared something that would save so Sota would have something before he went to school. Finishing this, she joined the rest of her family and ate her own breakfast.

"I'm not used to getting up this early," she said to Michael as they ate. "I don't think I like it very much."

He chuckled. "You and me both," he replied. "And I think we can count Kagome in with us. What do you think?"

Kagome growled and kept eating, which caused her two breakfast buddies to laugh. They finished at were out the door with Michael pulling at them the whole time. They weren't used to rushing, so it fell to Michael to make sure that they got to the right place on time.

School seemed to drag. They were welcomed back by their teachers and friends, and had to say that they were too sick last week to come to school. They all lapped it up except Yusuke and Kuwabara, who knew better since they'd stopped by while they were gone. Since they were so far behind, they asked Keiko to help them to catch up. They would've asked Yusuke and Kuwabara, but they probably didn't know what was going on, either, so they asked the smartest kid in class, Keiko Yukimura. Yusuke didn't look too happy about that, but that was only to be expected, since they had gone out until recently, when she started going out with Tanner.

Lunch didn't come quickly enough. They all grabbed their bentos and sat under their tree. As soon as they sat down, the boys started interrogating them, or rather, Robin, since Kagome was looking very out-of-it.

"Okay, where were you two last week?" Yusuke demanded. "We know you weren't sick because we stopped by almost every day."

"We were in the Feudal Era," Robin replied. "Kagome wanted to visit a friend of hers, and since it took so long to find them, we stayed a while, then came back yesterday."

"Why didn't you tell us that you'd be gone that long? Hiei was almost going crazy, but he couldn't go after you because he was doing some work for Koenma. We couldn't go after you because we wouldn't even know where to begin looking. Hiei's the only one who's actually used that portal-thingie so we don't even know if it would let us through."

"Oh hush," Robin said. "I know it would let you through. Hiei fell through it accidentally, so there's no reason it wouldn't let you through unless someone blocked it. Now as much as I would like to talk with you all day, I need to eat while I still can."

The boys fumed as she turned her attention to her food and refused to talk. Michael watched their attempts with amusement, and Kagome just ignored them. The bell signaled the end of lunch, and they all trudged back inside to their classes. After school, Keiko and her boyfriend Tanner walked home with them so they could help them catch up. Yusuke and Kuwabara chose to be conspicuously absent because of this. Upon arriving at the Sunset Shrine, they hiked up the stairs and started working. Tanner chose to help Robin because she needed more help in science and Japanese while Keiko helped Kagome with math and English.

Robin groaned when she saw the problem Tanner wanted her to work. "Not another ICE table," she pleaded. "I'm so tired of ICE tables."

Tanner only laughed. "This is your weakest point, so you need to work on it," he said, not giving in to her pleas.

"Fine, fine," she grumbled and turned her attention on the hateful ICE table problem.

&&

"Kagome, the square root of three is not a rational number," Keiko repeated. "It keeps going on and on, so it's an irrational number."

Kagome shook her head. "I don't see how it's not rational," she complained. "The calculator stops, so why doesn't the number?"

"If you tried to solve it out on paper, the number would keep going," Keiko explained patiently. "The square root of four stops at two, so it's rational, but the square root of three doesn't, so it's irrational."

Kagome thought about it, and it clicked what Keiko was trying to say. "I get it!" she exclaimed.

Keiko clapped her hands. "Finally!" she cheered. "Now let's look at some of these problems."

Six hours later Tanner and Keiko were saying good-bye. Kagome and Robin watched them leave and breathed sighs of relief.

"We're caught up," Robin said, leaning against the doorway. "Thank goodness that wasn't too hard. Now all we have to do is work on the tours and stuff."

"I've been thinking," Kagome ventured. "We can't always be here to work the tours and stuff, so why don't we hire people to do it for us? I mean, we could do it on weekends, but during the week, it's a bit much to do school and the tours. Do you think Michael would agree to that?"

Robin frowned. "He might," she said slowly. "I think it's a good idea, and I think he will too, but I don't know."

As it turned out, he agreed with them completely. "We've been overworked for nearly two years," he said. "It's about time we got more help. People might get suspicious about where we're getting the money to pay the workers, though."

"It's from the people paying to view the shrine," Robin said. "It costs money, and we do get enough from that to pay the workers. It wouldn't be enough to pay them and support us, but Kagome's Hiruseki stones can take care of that. We'll just have to be more careful, that's all."

"I'll put the ad in the newspaper and take care of the hiring process," Michael sighed. "It seems like I'm doing everything around here, but I can't really trust either of you to do it since you'll most likely botch it."

"Hey!" the girls said indignantly. "How 'bout we sit in on some of the interviews," Robin suggested. "That way we'll be able to do it ourselves since we've seen how it's supposed to be done. This way you'll have some extra time for yourself. What do you say?"

"It sounds okay," he said slowly. "We'll try it. Now I need to work on the ad, so shoo." They left him to his typing and went downstairs.

They had just sat down at the kitchen table when Hiei appeared in the doorway. He had a somewhat sour look on his face, which wasn't all that unusual, but it was more sour than usual.

"Is something wrong, Hiei?" Kagome asked.

"Tanner was here, wasn't he?" He answered her question with a question of his own.

Surprised, Kagome nodded. "Yeah, he and Keiko were helping us catch up with our schoolwork since we've been gone. Why?"

He growled. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather he not come here more than necessary."

"Why?" Robin asked. "He seems to be nice, and he was a great help to me."

"He can't know that you know about me. He's King Yama's Spirit Detective, and he knows that I'm supposed to be watching you. He's also looking for the source of energy that keeps coming here. The well and Kagome," he informed them at their confused looks. "If he finds them, then he'll probably destroy them. Then, for good measure, he might destroy this entire place and everyone in it."

"He wouldn't!" Kagome gasped.

"If he thought it would eradicate a threat, he would. From what I've seen he isn't nearly as willing to fight as Yusuke and he isn't bloodthirsty, but he'll get the job done."

"Well, he helps sell things when the tours are going on," Robin pointed out. "I don't know if we can just say that he can't help anymore. I mean, we need all the help we can get at the moment."

"Weren't you just talking about hiring people to work this place?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Robin answered, "but that doesn't mean that students can't work here. We'll just be more careful from now on. How's that?"

From the expression on his face, he didn't like the idea very much, but he didn't say anything more on the matter. Instead, he turned and stalked up the stairs.

"We'll just be extra careful," Kagome said, watching Hiei's retreating form. She suddenly felt very tired. Yawning, she stumbled back to the table and put her books away. "I need to go to bed," she told Robin, who was looking at her with concern. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

&&


	9. Chapter 9

**Christmas is getting closer and closer! I love Christmas; I just wish the break was longer.**

&&

Over the next few weeks, Kagome seemed to visibly wilt. The homework piled up and, combined with caring for the shrine, was taking its toll on her. She almost always had bags under her eyes and was forced to take naps after school every day. Normally she never would've admitted that she needed them, but everyone bullied her so she gave up after the first two weeks. The only time she could see where she could recover somewhat was spring break, which was creeping up on them. But she didn't know how much rest she could get then because that's when Michael was going to do the interviews.

She was concentrating on the paper in front of her, trying to make sense of her math homework. Everything else was finished, but math was the hardest thing for her. It was just so hard to make the numbers make sense. She had her notes spread around her, but she wanted to figure out the problem without the notes. That would mean she was learning something. She sighed. _I bet even Sota could do these,_ she thought mournfully.

"Math again?" Robin asked as she passed by.

"Yeah," she sighed, looking at her friend. "Why can't math be more easy?"

The blonde laughed. "It is easy; you just have to work at it."

"You're no help," the miko grumbled.

Shaking her head in amusement, the fire witch poured herself a glass of water and went back out of the kitchen. "You should really go to bed and just do that later," she called over her shoulder. "You need your sleep."

"I know," Kagome replied, shutting her book and putting it back in her backpack. Yawning and stretching, she made her way up the stairs and into her room. She fell onto her bed and was out like a light.

The next morning Michael and Robin had to drag a groggy Kagome to school and guide her to her locker. She was able to put in her locker combination and exchange books, but Robin had to drag her to their first period. She woke up a little in third period, but was still a little out of it. At lunch she only picked at her food. She smiled briefly when Yusuke and Kuwabara joined them, but otherwise didn't give any indication that she noticed her surroundings. That didn't stop the boys from talking to her, or rather, at her.

"Yeah, Koenma has us on another mission finding some escaped demon that takes over the minds of humans," Yusuke was saying. "He's supposed to be somewhere in this city, so I'm surprised Hiei or Kurama haven't been able to sniff him out. Well, Kurama's been busy with his new family and all, but that doesn't excuse Hiei."

"I bet the runt's just lazy," Kuwabara declared. "He won't do anything unless it benefits him. A real man would get rid of the danger as soon as he felt it near."

"That's the thing, baka," Yusuke said, smacking his friend's head. "He hasn't been able to sense the thing at all. And I know he's been looking."

"It must be one strong demon," Robin commented. "If even other demons can't sense it, then we're in trouble. Do you know what he looks like?"

They shook their heads. "Not a clue," Yusuke admitted. "We're doing this blind, and none of us like it."

The bell warned everyone that lunch was over, so they all packed their remaining food back in their bags (if there was any left) and headed back inside. Kagome listlessly watched her teachers draw strange squiggles on the board that should've made sense but didn't. Then the school day was over and she went home with Robin and Michael.

"Why couldn't it be a weekend?" Kagome complained as they came up to the steps of the Sunset Shrine. "It's the middle of the week and I'm already tired of walking up and down these stairs. And why aren't Yusuke and Kuwabara with us?"

Michael shook his head. "You weren't listening to them at lunch, were you?" he asked. "They're searching for a demon that takes over the human mind."

"How do they know it isn't here?" she asked.

"They don't, but they think it's in a more secluded place than this." He gestured to the houses on either side of the shrine. "They said that demons like that tend to prefer seclusion so they aren't as easily caught."

He and Robin started up the stairs, but Kagome stayed at the bottom for a few seconds, looking across the street where a cat was being chased by a dog. Steeling herself for the climb, she took ten steps before a wave of dizziness washed over her. _What's this?_ She wondered as the world started to spin. _This hasn't happened before._ She felt her bag drop to the ground as darkness replaced light.

&&

Robin heard a thump behind her, and when she turned around, she saw Kagome's bag had dropped from her shoulders and Kagome herself swaying like a sapling in a strong breeze. She started down the stairs to help her friend, but Kagome fell over. Luckily she didn't start rolling down the stairs, but that was all the luck they had. Moving quickly to her side, Robin checked her for injuries while she heard Michael call an ambulance. There was blood staining the ground under her head, so Robin didn't want to move her in case she made it worse.

Michael came down and knelt beside Robin. "The ambulance is on its way," he said, looking down at Kagome.

"She's breathing," Robin said, relief flowing through her, "and her pulse is steady."

The wail of a siren was heard not too far away and it was coming closer. In a few minutes it was in front of the house, and a stretcher bearing the unconscious Kagome was heading back down the stairs and into the ambulance.

"I'll go with her," Robin told Michael, who was starting to go after the stretcher. "You need to be here for the interviews." It looked like he was going to protest, so she put up one had. "The interviewees need you more than Kagome does right now. If something happens, I'll call you. How's that?"

"And what happens if the STN is at the hospital?" he demanded angrily. "You'll be in danger."

"Michael," she sighed, "I'm in danger every time I take a step outside. This may be a little more risky than my usual day, but not by much. I'll take care of Kagome; you take care of our home."

Defeated, his shoulders slumped and he started back up the steps with Kagome's and his bags. Robin joined Kagome in the back of the ambulance and they rode to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, the nurses took Kagome into the emergency room, but Robin was ushered into the waiting room. It was torture, pure and simple. She tried to do some of her homework, but she couldn't stay focused and spent most of her time pacing. Eventually one of the nurses came out and told her that Kagome was stable, but she would need to stay in the hospital. Looking at the clock, Robin realized that she had been there for nearly nine hours, and it was approaching eleven o'clock. She thanked the nurse and, grabbing her pack, headed out the door. Since she didn't have a ride back, she called Michael to pick her up.

"How is she?" Sota demanded when they came in the door.

"The nurse said she's stable, but I don't know how she is other than that," Robin replied, sliding into one of the chairs. "I wish I could've stayed there."

"You couldn't, though," Michael reminded her. "With the school you've missed, you can't afford to miss another day."

"Will she be okay?" Sota asked in a small voice. He looked like he was going to break down any second.

_Poor kid,_ she thought sympathetically. _He only has his sister left of his original family since his mom and grandpa left._ "I think she'll be fine since the nurse didn't say anything negative, and people in the medical profession tend to have a pessimistic view of things."

He didn't look like he believed her, but then again, she didn't really believe herself, so she couldn't blame him. "Sota, it's past midnight. Why don't you go to bed?" He looked like he was going to argue, but right when he was about to respond, a yawn stopped him. Looking downhearted, he trudged up the stairs. Turning to Michael, Robin said, "You have school tomorrow also. It's time we went to bed. Do you know if Hiei is coming back tonight?"

Michael was unfazed by her sudden change of subject. "I don't think so. He hasn't been back so far, so there's no reason to assume that things'll change unless that demon he's tracking is caught."

"Let's hope that he doesn't come back tonight. He's closer to Kagome than he is to the rest of us and I don't want him distracted from his job because of this." Robin got up and started for the stairs. "I know that we probably won't be able to sleep much, but there's no sense in not trying. Tomorrow's going to be hard enough as it is."

That morning Michael called Sota's school and told them that he wouldn't be going that day due to the hospitalization of his sister. He and Robin left for school after Sota assured them that he was able to get on the train and get to the hospital by himself. Robin wanted to stay at the hospital also, but since she missed so many days already, she couldn't justify spending time there when it would do no good. After informing the attendance why Kagome wouldn't be coming to school anytime soon, they went their separate ways. Robin tried her best to concentrate and while she absorbed most of what the teachers droned on about, her thoughts kept drifting back to the hospital. Then, at lunch, she had to face Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"She WHAT?" they shouted in unison.

"Not so loud," she scolded them, covering her ears with her hands. "You just about blew my hearing."

"She was pushing herself too hard," Yusuke fumed. "She knew better than that. Why didn't she say anything?"

"Kagome probably didn't think anything about it," Michael said. "Or maybe she just didn't think that we could do anything about it, so didn't mention it."

"Hiei's not going to be very happy about this," Yusuke muttered. "He's pretty close to her."

"The shrimp's never happy," Kuwabara said. "Still, I guess it wouldn't be good for him to know anyway; he'd probably go on a killing spree."

"He doesn't go and kill things whenever he's unhappy," Yusuke retorted, smacking the back of his friend's head.

"I beg your pardon?" Robin said.

They looked surprised. "You didn't know that he was a killer?" they asked. She shook her head. "He was a big time killer before we met him," Yusuke explained. "He doesn't do it quite so much now, though."

"You need to get to class," one of the school's administrators shouted at them. They looked around and noticed that there were only a few people left outside. Apparently none of them had heard the bell ring.

"I'll see you guys later, okay?" Robin said as she packed her things.

"We're working after school, so we'll see you tomorrow," Kuwabara said. They parted ways for their classes.

After the final bell, Michael and Robin went straight to the hospital. In Kagome's room they found Sota talking to one of the nurses. Neither of them looked very distressed so they assumed that nothing untoward had happened.

"Has she woken up?" Michael asked the nurse that was watching the heart monitor. The nurse shook his head.

"She's in good condition except she hasn't come to," the man said. "Her injuries are healing nicely. We asked her friend yesterday what happened. Has she had a history of dizzy spells?"

Michael answered the questions the best he could, but he didn't remember her ever falling over, and neither did anyone else. This puzzled the nurses, but they accepted it. Michael walked over to where Robin and Sota sat watching the comatose Kagome and joined them in their vigil.

&&


	10. Chapter 10

**Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so even if all you readers don't celebrate Christmas, I wish you the best anyway, and a Happy New Year!**

&&

_Where is he?_ Hiei snarled to himself. He silently scanned the area, but still there was no sign of the demon. _I know he's here somewhere._

"I don't sense him," Kurama said, also looking around.

"He's still here," Hiei stated. "He's just hiding his scent and aura."

They had finally found their elusive psychic demon. He had made the mistake of trying to take over Hiei's mind, but with the Jagan, Hiei held him off with ease. Unfortunately, after he'd failed to take Hiei, he fled. Kurama and his short demon friend had tracked him to an out-of-the-way woodland, but they couldn't pinpoint his exact location.

"Perhaps we should call Yusuke and Kuwabara to help us," Kurama suggested.

"No!" Hiei hissed. "I do not need their help, especially the baka's help. He'd be more of a hindrance than anything else." A sound from above silenced the two. Being the quicker of the two, Hiei was in the trees in the blink of an eye and stood before the startled demon. However, the demon was quick to recover from his shock and was off almost before Hiei could get a glimpse of him. The fire demon shot after him. Beneath them he could hear Kurama trying to get ahead and cut off the demon that fled before them. Abruptly the trees ended and so did the trail.

"Where is he?" Kurama called up to Hiei. "He isn't out in the open."

Stretching his hearing range, he listened for the sound of something moving, but didn't hear anything, not even animals. "He must still be nearby," Hiei told the redhead. "You search the ground; I'll take the trees." He dashed away before Kurama could answer him.

_How could he have gotten away from me? I almost had him, and he just disappeared. At least now we know what he looks like._ For an hour they two searched, but they didn't catch sight of him._ I guess there's no help for it; I'll use the Jagan eye to look for his mind._ Jumping down in front of Kurama, Hiei said, "I'm going to use the Jagan eye to look for him. If something unexpected happens, you know what to do." The other demon nodded. Uncovering his third eye, Hiei focused on finding the demonic mind of their prey. He felt the other demon's surprise at finding his mind under attack. What shocked Hiei was that while the demon wasn't strong enough to attack him back, his defense was incredible; he couldn't break through. Then a surge of power came from the other demon and Hiei found himself falling into his power.

When he opened his eyes, he found Kurama standing over him. "What happened?" he asked. "I almost had him."

"You were losing," Kurama corrected him. "The other demon almost took over your mind, so I had to bring you back."

The back of Hiei's head was pounding. "Did it have to be so hard?" he asked irritably, slowly sitting up.

Kurama just laughed at him. "You wouldn't come to, so I had to use quite a bit of force." He became serious again. "I didn't think he could overpower you. What happened?"

"He got more energy from somewhere. I think he stole some from the people whose minds are under his control."

Kurama helped his friend to his feet. "We'll have to continue our search later. Right now you can't see beyond the end of your nose, and Yukina won't be happy if anything happens to you. Besides," he added when Hiei was about to protest, "what'll happen if he takes control of my mind? I'm tired and not thinking properly as it's nearly midnight and I have school tomorrow. We can search more later; for now, let's go home."

They walked to Kurama's neighborhood without mishap. "Will you be staying here, Hiei?" the redhead asked. "You know you're always welcome."

"Hn. I haven't been to the shrine since Koenma put us on this mission," Hiei responded. "I should probably go back."

"Is that really wise? If he decides to follow you, then you'll put everyone in danger."

This caused Hiei to stop. If he went home, he would put them in danger, and he couldn't allow that. Also, home subconsciously had become associated with "safe", so he wouldn't be as vigilant, and it would be that much harder to be sharp enough to find the psychic demon. The decision was taken out of his hands, however. While he was thinking things over, Kurama grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. "Mother, Hiei will be staying with us," he announced.

"Oh, are his parents out of town again?" Shiori asked from what sounded like the kitchen.

"Yes, Mother," Kurama answered.

"You boys can eat dinner now; Shu-chan and Kazuya aren't supposed to be back for a while." Shiori leaned out the kitchen door and smiled at them. "It's nothing special, just sandwiches, but help yourself."

"Did you need help with anything?" Kurama asked.

"No, dear," Shiori replied. "When you two are done, though, would you mind setting up a place for Hiei to stay?"

"I'll put up an extra bed in my room," Kurama informed her. His mother smiled at him and left the two of them in the kitchen by themselves. "So, is there anything in particular you wanted?" Kurama asked Hiei.

"Not really," Hiei replied. _Unless there's sweet snow…_

Kurama shook his head and opened the refrigerator. "In that case, we're having sandwiches, like my mother suggested." He took out some things of various colors and put them on the counter. "Do you have a preference as to what goes on it?"

The short demon shook his head and let Kurama do whatever he wanted to his sandwich. When the redhead brought it down to him, he examined what the fox did. There was some sort of light meat in between two pieces of bread, but also there was lettuce and slices of tomato with the meat. On the bread was something new; it was white and stuck to whatever was touching it. Hiei didn't like the look of it but was willing to try it for Kurama's sake. He tried one small bite of it. It was good, but the white stuff was awful. Still, he pretended to like it. "What did you put in this?" he asked his friend.

"Ham, lettuce, tomatoes from the garden, and mayonnaise," Kurama responded.

_Mayonnaise. I must remember to never touch that stuff again._ They finished their food in companionable silence. After Kurama took their dishes and put them into the sink, they walked up the stairs and into Kurama's room. Kurama looked down at his clothes and wrinkled his nose. "I'm surprised my mother didn't throw us into the shower once we walked in the door," he said casually to the fire demon, who was standing in the middle of the room. "Our clothes are a mess."

"I fail to see why you care so much for your clothes," Hiei stated. "You knew we were going to be tracking that demon, and there was bound to be dirt involved."

"Still, I'll need to wash our clothes," Kurama sighed. "I'll find something for you, but we are going to change and shower before we go to sleep tonight." Walking over to his closet, the tall boy leafed through what was in there, but nothing would come close to fitting the much shorter Hiei. Abandoning the closet, he started opening drawers and taking out things that looked like they would fit his friend. Finally finding a very long shirt and some shorts that would be a bit big, he handed them to Hiei and looked for something for himself. "You can shower first and I can make up your bed, or I can go first; it doesn't matter to me."

"You can go first," Hiei said. "You care more about being clean than I do." As Kurama headed into the bathroom, Hiei sat down in the middle of the floor and thought about how the demon was almost able to overpower him._ He's not as clever as he thinks. We now know his name and what he looks like. Now I'll have to tell Koenma. Maybe I can get Kurama to do it for me. No, he didn't see Gotenmaru, so it'll be up to me. That's just great. Why didn't he use that power when he was trying to take over my mind before? There wasn't even enough to overcome my barrier at first; was there a reason he didn't pull from his other power source to overcome me?_

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice when Kurama came out of the bathroom and was standing right in front of him. "Hiei!" Kurama shouted into the unresponsive demon's ear.

Said demon leaped back and had his katana to Kurama's neck before the other boy could blink. Lowering his blade, Hiei asked, "Is there something you wanted, fox?"

"You weren't answering so I shouted to get your attention. You can shower now. Do you remember how to use the handles?"

Hiei didn't bother to answer him and walked right into the bathroom. Since he'd been staying with Kagome, he'd learned very well how to use the water handles. Kagome wouldn't tolerate a sporadic bathing schedule, so he made sure to bathe every night, even if he didn't want to. Shrugging out of his clothes, he left them on the floor and turned on the hot water. Scrubbing himself quickly, he looked for Kurama's shampoo and conditioner, which weren't with the body soap on the floor. Confused when he couldn't find it, he looked on the ledges by the handles, but they weren't there, either. Thoroughly annoyed because he couldn't say that he was clean until he'd washed his hair out also, he looked up and found what he was looking for: right by the shower head. Muttering about tall kitsunes and their fascination with putting things out of reach of less-tall people, he found that he could get the desired soaps out of their basket by pushing on their bottoms at an angle to get them to fall over the edge. With his goal accomplished, he washed his hair and left the shampoo and conditioner on the floor of the shower since there was no way he could put them back. Grabbing a towel off the rack, he dried himself off and put on the clothes, which were still too big on him. He dried his hair the best he could, but it was still wet when he exited the bathroom. "That was quick," Hiei observed, noting that Kurama had set up the bed and had put sheets on it already.

Looking up from homework that was probably due the next day, Kurama smiled and got up. "I'll take your clothes downstairs and wash them," he told him. "Feel free to sleep. I shouldn't be gone long." He got his and Hiei's clothes and headed out the door. Deciding to take Kurama's advice, Hiei lay down on the inflatable bed and closed his eyes. Somewhere in the house a door opened and strange voices floated up to his ears.

_I don't remember those voices being here before. Kurama can take care of himself, so it shouldn't be a problem. Wait, if his mother's attacked, he'll probably kill me for not helping. So much for getting extra sleep._ Opening his eyes, he got up and, picking up his katana, headed out the door. As the voices sounded like they were coming from downstairs, that's where he went. _There's no demon presence; good, then they're just regular ningen bandits._ The voices were in the kitchen. He drew his katana and quietly entered the kitchen. There were only two of them, a man and a boy._ This shouldn't be too hard. It doesn't look like they mean to harm anyone, so I just need to convince them to leave._ "Can I help you?" he asked them, his voice cold and his katana pointed at them.


	11. Chapter 11

Okay, here's my Christmas present to all of you; a new chapter! Stay safe, everyone, and have fun. Enjoy your break while you have it.

&&

The man looked startled. "Who are you?" he demanded, putting himself between Hiei and the boy.

Hiei smirked. "That's not important," he told the man. "What are you doing in this house?"

Before the man could answer, Kurama appeared in the doorway on the other side of the room. "Hiei!" he exclaimed. "This is my stepfather and his son. You don't need to threaten them."

Comprehension dawned on him. _This is his new family. Baka! You knew he had a new family; why didn't you put two and two together?_ Sheathing his katana, he stepped back. "My apologies," he said, not taking his eyes away from the man and his son. "I didn't realize who you were."

"That still doesn't explain who you are and what you're doing in my house," the man said angrily.

"This is Hiei, my friend," Kurama hurriedly explained to him. "He hasn't met you before, so he probably thought you were burglars or something along those lines. Hiei, this is my stepfather, Kazuya, and his son, Kokota."

The man and Hiei stared at each other, neither willing to shake hands. However, that was when Shiori came in. "You're finally home," she said, "and you met Hiei. His parents are out of town, so he'll be staying with us tonight."

Kazuya was clearly not pleased with this, but left with Shiori anyway without saying anything. Kokota, on the other hand, became a chatterbox once his father left. "Hi, I'm Shuichi. Where do you live? How come I haven't seen you around here before? What school do you go to…"

Seeing his friend back up nervously from the hyperactive younger boy, Kurama stepped in. "Kokota, you're overwhelming him. He can't possibly answer all those questions."

The boy looked downcast. "Sorry, Hiei-san," he said.

"It's late; you should probably be in bed right now," Kurama told him. "Good-night, Kokota."

"Right," the younger boy sighed. "This is one of those times when I hate school." Giving Hiei one last glance, he slumped up the stairs to what was presumably his room.

"Why don't you go back upstairs and try to get some sleep, Hiei," Kurama suggested. "I need to finish the laundry, but I'll be up as soon as it's done, and I'll try not to wake you."

"Hn. No thanks," Hiei said. "I don't think I'd like to be up there with Kazuya likely to come and cut my throat. I'll stay with you."

Kurama shrugged. "Suit yourself." He went back into the laundry room while Hiei stayed in the kitchen, but close enough so he could reach Kurama if anything untoward happened, like the washer or dryer coming to life and attacking the unsuspecting fox. Sometime past 11:00 the dryer stopped, and Kurama came out with their clothes. "Here," he said, covering a yawn while handing Hiei back his clothes. They made their way up the stairs, Kurama stumbling in the lead while Hiei walked sedately behind him. Upon arriving at their destination, Kurama hung his clothes in the closet and threw himself on the bed and was out before his head touched the pillow.

Hiei stared at him, nonplussed. _That's never happened before. I guess he's been pushed harder than usual. Now that I think about it, we've all been pushed harder than usual. I hope things stay quiet around here for a while after we catch Gotenmaru._ Sighing, he rolled his friend over and got him under his blankets. _I'm getting too soft; if I'm not careful, I'll be spouting off how honorable men should act, like the baka._ He sat down on his makeshift bed and looked at the blinds covering the window. _I need to go home some time. They know why I haven't been there, but I'd rather not be yelled at for staying away for so long._ With these thoughts in his head, he drifted to sleep…

Only to wake to someone attacking his mind again. _Gotenmaru!_ Hiei mentally roared. _You won't get away from me again!_ He wasn't as strong as he was earlier that day, so Hiei was able to block his attacks and exit the house through the window. Unfortunately, he woke Kurama while in the act of climbing out. "Hiei, what are you doing?" the groggy boy asked.

"It's Gotenmaru," he answered tersely. When Kurama stared blankly at him, and not just because he didn't comprehend what he was saying, he added, "The demon from earlier."

"Wait for me then," Kurama sighed as he got up and staggered over to the window. "We can't afford to lose you."

"Hn. If you can keep up, then you can stay; I won't wait for you." Hiei was out the window before Kurama could say anything else to him. Contrary to what he said, he did wait for Kurama to climb out the window and get on the ground. "This way," he ordered, dashing off in one direction, but made sure he was slow enough for Kurama to follow. They didn't run very far, which surprised Hiei. Apparently Gotenmaru moved closer than either of them had thought he would. They followed the energy signal to a graveyard, but neither of them could pinpoint where exactly it was coming from as it was foggy and dark. However, their target cut their searching short.

"Welcome to the graveyard," Gotenmaru's voice floated out of the mist. "Very appropriate place to meet."

"Indeed, as you are about to join its residents," Kurama said coldly.

A rush of wind and the voice came from a new position. "Actually, it's the other way around," the voice said from directly behind Kurama. The fox whirled around, and Hiei saw him freeze, his eyes staring blankly into nothing. Cursing under his breath, Hiei darted over and sliced right in front of the still redhead. Gotenmaru just laughed, still out of sight, and Kurama was still as unmoving as a statue. "You won't be able to help your friend," the demon sneered from somewhere in the fog. "He'll be drained, but don't worry. You'll join him soon enough."

"I think not," Hiei snarled, uncovering his Jagan eye. He found the hooks that Gotenmaru had embedded in Kurama's mind and yanked them out. He could tell that it was painful for both parties, but if he was going to save Kurama, he had to move fast and not worry about pain. Gotenmaru didn't make things easy; as fast as Hiei removed his hooks, he'd put them back in. At the same time, Hiei searched for him and he hid himself among the tombstones and the mist. Hiei was at a disadvantage, though, since he wasn't willing to leave Kurama in his state. The fire demon scanned the area, but the fog blocked his senses. He heard a sound to his right, but there was nothing there. Turning back, he was prepared to continue his search when Gotenmaru appeared right in front of him.

"Good-bye," he said to the startled Koorime. Before Hiei could recover, Gotenmaru slammed the flat of his blade against his skull and he knew no more.

When he woke up, he was surprised to find that he could wake up at all. He sat up quickly, but regretted it since his vision started swimming. Waiting for the sunspots to disappear, he took in his surroundings. They were still in the graveyard, so no one had found them yet. A short distance away Kurama lay, still comatose. _He got away again. This isn't good. What is he up to? Why aren't we dead yet?_ Dreading what he would find, he searched his mind for hooks, but to his relief and confusion, there weren't any. _This isn't right,_ he fumed internally. _There should've been at least one hook…unless he couldn't break through my shields. That must be it. But what about Kurama?_ The poor fox was still out cold and didn't show any sign of waking up.

Wincing as the blow on his head made itself known to him, he slowly made his way to Kurama. "Wake up," Hiei said loudly, nudging him. Kurama didn't move. Hiei repeated himself, more insistently this time, but with the same results. Thoroughly annoyed and short on patience because of lack of sleep, his head injury, and the pounding headache that was still building, he resorted to shouting in his ear and slapping him. This got a reaction. Kurama's eyes fluttered open and met Hiei's. "It's about time," Hiei said hotly. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to wake you up?"

"Where are we?" Kurama asked sleepily.

"Still in the graveyard," Hiei answered him. "What happened?"

"I don't know," the fox said. "It felt like something was attacking my mind, but I couldn't fend it off." He looked down at his hands and feet. "I don't feel terrible, except where you hit me." Horror crossed his features. "Do you know what time it is?"

Hiei looked around. "No," he said. "There aren't any clocks around here, and you didn't put on a watch."

Kurama scrambled up, ignoring his injuries. "We have to get home," he said urgently, making his way out of the cemetery.

"What's the rush?" Hiei queried, not happy about the pace.

"I have school today, and if I'm going to get there on time, I need to hurry. If it's late, then there won't be time to get to school and I'll just take the day off. However, we still need to get home or my mother will be worried."

_If only he'd be more considerate of my headache,_ the Koorime thought mournfully. _At least he seems to be okay, and there don't seem to be any hooks in him either. Now that's strange. There should've been some in him at least. How long were we out? The sun is up, so it's been awhile. This makes no sense. Argh, it hurts too much to think._ He went into a semiconscious state until Kurama stopped, and then he plowed right into him, causing them both to fall.

"What was that?" Kurama asked, not happy about being on the ground again, this time with a Hiei on top of him.

"Forgot to stop," Hiei answered him. Haltingly, because moving too fast caused tremendous pain, the pair got on their feet again and walked the few yards to the front door of Kurama's home. Right before Kurama opened the door, it opened on its own accord to reveal Kazuya, who looked as startled to find them on the front porch as they were to find him on the opposite side of the door.

"Looks like you two have been through a tornado," he said casually, eyeing the two of them. "What happened?"

"We went running, but I tripped, and Hiei ran into me. This was the end result," Kurama lied. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven. If you hurry, you might be able to make it to school on time."

"I'll need a shower before leaving. What about you, Hiei?"

"Hn."

"We'll rush. Thank you." They brushed past him and went to Kurama's room. Kurama made straight for the bathroom while Hiei just stripped and put on his usual black clothes. He did wait for Kurama to get out of the shower, though. The boy had forgotten to get extra clothes when he went to shower, so he searched through his drawers for his school uniform while holding a towel around his waist.

"I'm heading out," he told Kurama curtly while the other was occupied with searching for his shirt.

"Not yet," Kurama pleaded, finally finding the shirt. "You can leave once we leave the house, but not before. It will look suspicious," he elaborated when Hiei was about to jump out the window anyway.

"Hn," was the other demon's response, but he stayed anyway. They walked down and said good-bye to Shiori, who thoughtfully made a lunch for both her son and Hiei.

"I'll see you later, I suppose," Kurama said when Hiei stopped a short ways from the house. "Don't go after the demon alone," he warned his friend when he started walking away.

Hiei didn't answer him, just sped off, as was his way.

&&


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm back! After about a week, I've returned to you. Yes, I know, you're all so excited, and I'm glad to be back. Unfortunately, school starts back tomorrow, so today will probably be the last update until the weekend. Sorry to all of you who still have a week of Christmas vacation left.**

&&

"Karasuma, I need those files," Amon ordered. Waking out of her daydream, Miho Karasuma clicked 'print' on the screen and gave them to Amon. He didn't say anything else; once the copies were in his hand, he walked away.

"You'd think he'd at least say thank you," Keiko said indignantly.

Karasuma just shook her head. "That's just Amon," she sighed. "He's always been like that. I don't care anymore. He's a good leader, and that's exactly what we need."

"If you say so," Keiko said doubtfully. "I think he should be a bit more polite, but that's just me."

"You and me both," Sakaki agreed. The boy was sitting next to Karasuma and looking over her shoulder at the computer. "Of course, I'd never say that to his face."

"Uh-oh," Sasha said from the other side of the room.

"What's wrong?" Keiko asked, concerned.

"Looks like there's another killer to hunt," Sasha answered. "His name is Kiron Mandela, and his element is-" she paused. "His element is fire," she completed.

Silence hung heavy in the air. "So his element is fire. Let's go." Amon strode out after these statements.

"What's with Amon?" Keiko whispered to Karasuma. "He hasn't done this before."

"It's the element," Karasuma answered. "Every time we've had a fire witch, he goes a little nuts. It's probably because of Robin."

"I know a Robin," Keiko said slowly. That got Karasuma, Sakaki, and Sasha's attention.

"Do tell us more," Sasha encouraged her.

"She goes to my school," she continued. That seemed to deflate the rest of them.

"Robin isn't stupid enough to go to school under her own name," Sakaki said. "It's probably not her."

"But if it is, shouldn't we go look?" queried Sasha.

"I'm going with Haruto on this," Karasuma said. "I don't think she would do that; in fact, I don't think she's even in Japan anymore."

"But what if she is?" Sasha insisted. "I'll check it out tomorrow, whether you guys go or not. Wait, Zaizen needs me to look up something for Solomon. I'll just do it later, I guess." She seemed to deflate.

"Whatever, Sasha," Sakaki drawled. "But right now, we have a Kiron Mandela to pick up, and I don't think Amon will be very happy if he's the only one who shows up to do the job." They all ran for the elevator and into the parking garage once it reached the right floor. Karasuma took Keiko while Sakaki rode his motorcycle. When they arrived at the spot, Amon was already in place and waiting for them. He didn't mention how late they were, just motioned them over and explained what was going to happen.

"Sasha told me that Mandela is inside these warehouses somewhere," Amon explained to them. "Karasuma, I want you and Sakaki to go and wait for him here." He pointed to a spot on a map of the area. "Keiko and I will be here." He pointed to a spot a couple blocks away. "Sakaki, you will flush him out of his hiding spot, then you and Karasuma can chase him our way. Everyone got that?" They nodded and went their separate ways.

"We'd better get this one done quickly," Sakaki murmured when they were in position. "Fire witches make me nervous."

"You're not the only one," Karasuma muttered under her breath. Louder, she said, "Let's get started, then." She watched Sakaki run off toward where Mandela was supposedly hiding, according to Sasha. Waiting patiently for him to locate the fire witch, she kept her gun ready. This wasn't the Orbo gun; just and ordinary bullet gun. The Orbo would be used once the witch got into position. Hearing the sound of feet running, she got ready to shoot. Without more warning than that, the witch whizzed by her with Sakaki right on his tail. Joining her partner, they chased him until they were almost to where they were supposed to turn him. Unfortunately, the witch had one of two choices to go to his next destination, and he chose the wrong one. They wanted him to go right; he went left.

"Amon, he's headed the wrong way," Karasuma heard Sakaki say into his phone.

"It leads to a dead end. Keep him there, and Keiko and I will join you."

Sakaki put his phone back in his pocket. "You heard him," he said ruefully. "Let's stall him or try to bring him down."

The two of them cautiously walked after the witch, Orbo guns held at ready. The alley was dark, so they couldn't see very well. Movement near the back brought their guard up, and just in time. They saw him point at them and they leaped to either side of the alley, and the spots they had just vacated burst into flame. Not caring to be barbecued, the two hunters closed in on him faster than he could recover from his surprise. "I've got him," Sakaki shouted. He fired at the witch and the victim collapsed, taking the bullet in his leg. Karasuma readied her gun and fired right above his heart. Mandela stopped moving.

"Amon, call the Factory; Karasuma and I just got him," Sakaki said into his phone.

"We're on our way," Karasuma heard Amon respond. They sat down and waited for their leader and Keiko to show up. They didn't have long to wait. Amon came around the corner with Keiko right behind him.

"The Factory should be here anytime now," he informed them, eyeing the witch. "One of us will have to stay by the witch, but the rest of us have another witch to hunt."

Sakaki groaned. "Two in one night? Are they working together?"

"As far as Sasha can determine, they're separate. This witch actually disappeared a while back, but apparently she's returned. Her name is Katherine Daae, and she uses water. She's around here somewhere close, but we're not sure exactly which building she's in."

"That means we'd better start looking, then," Karasuma sighed. "I'll take that building. Keiko, do you want to come with me?"

"What about me?" Sakaki demanded. "You're my partner."

"You're more experienced than she is," Karasuma reasoned. "She should probably stick with a veteran. This way we'll cover more ground if you and Amon go solo while she stays with me."

"Keiko, you go with Karasuma," Amon commanded. "You two will search these warehouses. Sakaki, you take the ones over there, and I'll go back the way Keiko and I came and search those." They split up once the orders were issued.

"Ms. Karasuma?" Keiko asked. "Why didn't I just stay with Mr. Amon?"

"Amon will move faster since he won't have to look after you," Karasuma answered. "Besides, this way Haruto will get a chance to go solo, and you can help me."

"I could look after myself," Keiko responded indignantly. "I've been doing this for a year now."

Karasuma laughed softly. "True," she conceded, "but you're the newest person on the team, so we all think you need to be looked after. Let's just look for Daae, okay?"

"Okay." They walked into the first warehouse to look. "Did you want to stick together or split up?"

"We can split in here. You take the bottom floor, and I'll search the top. How's that?" Keiko smiled, signaling she was okay with it, and they went off in search of their target. The top was pretty much deserted except for occasional insects, but they weren't bothering Karasuma, so she didn't bother them. "Find anything?" she called down to Keiko.

"Not ye-" she cut herself off.

"Keiko?" Karasuma asked, concern growing.

"I saw movement. I think she's down here." Her voice barely carried to Karasuma's ears. Moving quietly down the stairs, she joined Keiko.

"Where did you see it?" she asked the younger girl.

"Over there." She pointed to somewhere behind a row of racks. "It went behind those."

Moving quietly, they treaded around the scattered papers and other odds and ends on the floor while getting their guns up and ready. More movement caused them to break into a run. Unfortunately, this caused the target to also run. All they saw of her was long blonde hair turning a corner. They ran after her, but hit a wall of solid air. "I thought that her power was water," Keiko said, confused. While they tried to puzzle this out, Karasuma's phone went off.

"We got Daae," Sakaki's voice floated out of the phone. "You can come back now."

"We're coming," Karasuma responded, putting her phone back. "Keiko, they caught Daae. We need to find them."

"If they caught her, then who was that?" the girl asked, pointing to the direction the blonde girl went.

"I don't know, but that's not our problem right now. Let's get back to Amon."

"That girl," she heard Keiko mutter. "Her hairstyle was like a girl that went to my school last year. But she moved to Juuban; she couldn't be here."

"What was her name?" Karasuma asked.

Keiko's head jerked up. Apparently she didn't expect to be overheard. "Her name was Serena Tsukino."

&&


	13. Chapter 13

**I finally updated! Sorry about the wait; my sisters hogged the computer, and I was busy with other things. But now I'm back to inform you all that no, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth, and I have a new chapter for you all!**

&&

Robin was sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure out her Japanese homework when an unexpected visitor showed up. Actually, she'd been expecting this particular person for some time, but not at that particular moment.

"Where's Kagome?" Inuyasha demanded, skidding into the kitchen with both Flame and Star attached to his haori.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," she commented, not looking up from her homework.

"Where is she?" he repeated.

_I really, really, really don't want to do this._ Taking a deep breath, she stood up and faced him. "I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this," she began.

His face paled. "What happened?" he asked.

"A few weeks ago she got this illness and has been in the hospital since then."

He didn't know what a 'hospital' was, but he knew illness. "What's wrong with her?" he questioned anxiously. "I need to see her."

"I'll take you to her," she told him, putting her shoes on. "She isn't dying, but she hasn't woken up since she fell ill."

This further alarmed the hanyou, from the look on his face. "I need to see her now," he said urgently.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She waved him out the door and into the car. "I know you're worried, but a lot of other people around here have been dropping like flies. The doctors haven't been able to find anything wrong with them…" At Inuyasha's panicked look, she hurriedly continued. "But so far no one has died."

Fifteen minutes later they were at the hospital. Robin gave him a hat to cover his ears; there wasn't anything she could do about his clothes, but hopefully it wouldn't matter. The nurses knew her by now and allowed her to pass with Inuyasha right behind her. At the moment Sota was with Kagome; he went to see her almost every day, so that wasn't surprising. Inuyasha ran into the room when he saw his Kagome and almost ripped the cords tying her to the monitors off, except both Sota and Robin shouted at him to leave them be.

"How is she?" Robin asked Sota while Inuyasha knelt by Kagome and started whispering something to her, though she couldn't hear.

"She's not getting any worse, but she's not getting better, either," he replied, his eyes on his sister and the hanyou. "They've been bringing people in with her condition every day now, but the doctors still don't know what's wrong with them."

A thought suddenly struck Robin. "Have you seen them bring in Hiei?" she asked him. "He hasn't been home since he told us not to have Tanner over anymore."

"I haven't seen him brought him," Sota told her. "You could ask, though."

Acting on his suggestion, she walked over to the nurses' desk and asked the woman there, "Has anyone brought in a short boy with spiky hair and red eyes?"

The woman checked the computer and shook her head negatively. Relief coursing through her, Robin thanked the woman and went back to Kagome's room. "No," she answered Sota's unspoken query. "Still, that doesn't explain why he hasn't been home," she continued thoughtfully. "It's been weeks since we've seen him, and I don't think he knows about Kagome. Not that that's a bad thing," she added. "He'd probably be worse than Inuyasha." They both looked over at the half-demon, who was now whimpering softly at the comatose girl.

"Do you think he should stay here?" Sota asked. "I mean, look at him. This is tearing him apart, and there's nothing he can do for her."

"He might as well," Robin said, standing up. "I'd like to stay longer, but I have to finish homework. And get something to eat for tonight," she finished, remembering that there was almost nothing in the fridge or pantry. "Can you take him home with you?"

Sota nodded, so she left the two and cranked up the car. Driving to the grocery store, she went in and started looking for things that could be kept in the pantry. Finding the desired items, she started on the cold and frozen foods. While she was getting out one of those frozen dinners, a man stumbled into her, making her drop the box. Muttering an apology, the man stumbled on, leaving her to stare after him. _That's not something that happens every day,_ she thought in surprise. Proceeding to ignore the incident, she put the box in her cart when _thump_ followed by gasps were heard. Looking up, she saw the man who ran into her was on the ground, and a crowd was gathering around him. A bystander was already on his phone, calling an ambulance.

"Looks like another one got hit with that new disease," someone commented. "There are more people coming down with it every day."

"We need to leave before we get it," someone else said. Murmurs of agreement were heard throughout the crowd, and the left for the cash registers, leaving the poor man alone except for the store staff.

Following the crowd's example, she headed for the checkout, bought the food, and left. Wishing she had some sort of psychic power so she could lift all the bags with just a thought, she took what she could up to the house and set it in the kitchen. "Michael, do you think you could help me out?" she called up the stairs.

"Sure, I'll be down in a minute," he answered.

Shaking her head, she went back outside for the next load. To her surprise, she passed Michael as she was going in. "I didn't think you'd make it down here before I was done," she remarked.

"That's your surprise of the day," he responded. She smiled, and they went their separate ways. Once she finished putting her bags next to the other ones, Michael came back in. "I got the last of the bags," he informed her.

"Thanks," she said gratefully. "I took Inuyasha to see Kagome."

"I know. I was upstairs when he came in."

"Has Hiei come by?"

"No. Where has he been?"

Robin shook her head. "I know he's looking for a demon, but shouldn't he have found it by now? I mean, this is Hiei we're talking about. It shouldn't have taken this long to locate a demon, but I can't figure out another reason why he hasn't come home yet." She sighed. "Oh, well, he'll come home when he does. I'm going out for a while. If you need me, just call." He didn't say anything, so she just left.

In one of the buildings she had set up a target practice room of sorts. All around were sticks with paper on them. Her goal was to try and hit only certain colored papers, or certain sticks without hitting the other ones. She was getting better at it, but when her concentration slipped, she would hit the wrong thing and would have to start over. She knew she wouldn't be able to completely focus on the targets, but it was a way of getting rid of excess energy while also improving her aim. _Things are falling apart here,_ she thought as she incinerated a green paper. _We're losing everyone. First Jordan, Crystal, and Serena, then Kagome. We may have even lost Hiei._ Another green paper bit the dust._ I feel so helpless! Even if I knew what was wrong, I couldn't do anything. I can't heal to save my life._

It suddenly got very dark inside to building. Frowning, she turned to the burning papers to find that their light was being smothered by…something. It looked like the flames were collapsing in on themselves. As she watched them, she got the cold sensation of someone watching her. "Who's there?" she asked the darkness.

No one answered. Of course, she wasn't really expecting an answer, but it never hurt to ask first. She was about to leave and go back into the house and leave the place for somewhere less creepy, but hands, a stranger's hands, found their way around her neck and began to squeeze. Immediately bringing her hands to her neck, Robin tried to pry them off her, but the person was too strong. Her vision was starting to go black, and her lungs were on fire for air. Finally giving in, she used her fire on his hands, which caused him to let go with a soft curse. When he let go, she fell to the floor, gasping. The sound of the door opening reached her ears, and sunlight came through so she could see who attacked her. In this case, it was a what. He was a pretty ugly demon with fangs and horns aplenty.

Robin, afraid that Michael had opened the door, tried to warn him away, but wasn't even able to get off the floor, and she didn't have enough air to get even a squeak out. A flurry of movements caused her to look up. The demon in front of her was floating in the air, struggling against some unseen force. His eyes were bulging out of his head, and his movements were getting weaker. After a few moments, he stopped moving. By this time Robin had her breath back and, after setting the demon corpse on fire, turned to see who exactly opened the door. It wasn't who she was expecting to see.

"Serena?"

The person in the doorway smiled. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" she said ruefully. "How've ya been?"

Robin tried to get to her feet, but gave that up when her vision started swimming again. Seeing her predicament, Serena went to her and helped her up. "I can't believe you're here," Robin wheezed once she was on her feet again. "Are Crystal and Jordan with you?"

"They didn't come with me," Serena replied. Her eyes held uncertainty in them. "I don't think they'll ever come back now."

"What happened?" Now Robin started worrying. "Has anything happened to them?"

"Nothing bad," Serena trailed off. "Um, is Shuichi, I mean, Kurama around here somewhere?"

"Not at the moment. Why?"

"Since I was coming here, Jordan asked me to see if he was following through with her last request."

"So they aren't dead. That's good."

Serena looked shocked. "I didn't say they were dead. How could you even think that?"

The fire-user blushed. "Sorry," she muttered. "Anyway, why wouldn't they come back? I know Michael would want to see them."

"Well, it's complicated." When Robin glared at her, she gulped and continued. "They're, uh, they're married now."

She certainly wasn't expecting that. "They're married!" she repeated the other girl, not quite comprehending what she said. "As in, they live with a husband now?"

Serena nodded. "And now Crystal has an infant while Jordan is expecting."

"I wonder how Kurama will take this," Robin murmured to herself. "Let's go into the house. You might as well tell Michael now that you're here. Oh, how long can you stay? As a matter of fact, how did you get here in the first place?"

"I just followed a demon that escaped to this world," she explained as they walked out into the sunlight. "It happened to be the one that you just incinerated. As for how long I'm staying, I don't know. I don't think I'm going back to the village, so I might either stay here or look for a place of my own."

"You're staying here! Unless you want a place of your own," Robin quickly added. "But what made you change your mind?"

"It was fine at first. We rebuilt the village and things were getting up. Crystal managed to fix the shield, and Jordan whipped the fighters into shape, so there wasn't any reason for me to stay."

"What about Taichi?"

"We tried seeing each other, but I never felt anything other than friendship toward him. Eventually he got the message and started looking elsewhere. Now he's a father and married to Crystal."

"Who did Jordan marry? She seemed pretty close to Kurama before we left."

"Gaven, one of the fighters. When she's not in her tiger form, he's good enough to beat her."

"And when she does transform?"

"He can hold his own. Barely. If it's drawn out, then she's the victor, but she hasn't been fighting recently, for obvious reasons."

They were now at the door. "So, ready to tell Michael that he's an uncle?" Robin asked the other girl.

"Not really, but someone has to do it." She pushed open the door and they walked in.

"Michael, can you come here for a second?" Robin called up the steps.

"Coming," he called back. To Robin's surprise, she heard his footsteps on the stairs almost immediately after he answered. "What can I do for you?"

"We have company." He arrived in the doorway and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who it was.

"Serena?"

"That's exactly what Robin said when she saw me," Serena giggled. Then her expression grew serious. "I have some news for you."

"Has something happened to my sisters?" His face had a worried look to it now.

"They're both fine," she assured him. "Well, Jordan probably doesn't feel fine, but they're both okay for now." She took a deep breath. "You're now an uncle."

He stared at her blankly. "Crystal has an infant and Jordan is due any day now," she informed him. "They got married, and now they're starting their own families."

Michael sat down. Hard. On the floor. "I know it's a bit much to take in, but that's why they aren't here with me," Serena said softly as she and Robin knelt down by him. "They wanted to come, but Crystal has a child to take care of, and she didn't want any stress on Jordan because it would affect the baby. You know Jordan; she won't go against Crystal, and her husband was very against her coming as well. In fact, both their husbands were."

"Why?" Michael demanded angrily. "If they wanted to come, then _they_ shouldn't have stopped them." There was no doubt as to whom he was talking about.

"I can't say I blame them very much," Serena admitted. "I mean, before they married Taichi and Gaven, they loved two boys that live here. They probably thought that if they came back, they would stay here and leave them."

Michael looked confused. "I thought Taichi had a thing for you."

"He did, but things didn't work out, so he married Crystal. They're good for each other." Her gaze started traveling around the room. "Where's everyone else?"

Robin and Michael looked at each other. Michael's look said _You tell her._ Letting out her breath, Robin got Serena's attention. "Sota's in the hospital visiting Kagome," she explained quickly.

"What's wrong with her?" Serena asked in concern.

"The doctors aren't sure. Apparently it's contagious since other people have been falling sick with it also, but they have no symptoms other than falling down into a coma. They say that people are coming in every day now, but they still don't know how to cure it."

"How's everyone taking it?" she asked.

"Inuyasha's with her and Sota right now. The rest of the shard hunters don't know yet, though."

"What about Hiei?" Serena knew how close he was to Kagome.

"He hasn't been home since she became sick, so I don't think he knows either."

"He hasn't been home?"

Robin shook her head. "He's been hunting a demon; I guess it's pretty elusive if he hasn't caught it yet. I'm assuming that's the reason he hasn't come home. I'm sure he's fine," she assured the other girl, correctly interpreting her look. "Sota says that the hospital hasn't taken in anyone of his description, and I'm sure one of the boys would've informed us if something had happened to him."

"Do they know of your relationship with him?"

That stopped her cold. "No," she said slowly. "They know he's watching us, and we have a casual acquaintance with him through them, but aside from that, they don't know."

"When do you see them next?"

"Tomorrow at school. They might not know, though. Maybe I should ask Kurama."

"Do you know where his high school is?"

"No, but I can find out where he lives from one of the guys."

The sound of the door opening stopped their conversation. "We're home," Sota called.

"Come into the kitchen," Robin called. They did, and there was another mini-reunion. Serena explained things again, and Sota updated them on Kagome's condition, which is to say, nothing changed.

"Will you be staying here, Inuyasha, or will you be going back through the well?" Robin asked the hanyou when there was a lull in conversation.

He looked unsure. "I think I'd better go back," he said slowly. "Someone needs to tell Sango and Miroku, and I guess the best person to do that would be me."

"If you're sure," Michael said. "If you change your mind, feel free to pick a room."

The hanyou just gave a brief smile and left the house.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry it's been so long, but I finally got it out! Don't hurt me!**

&&

At school the next day, Robin didn't have a hard time tracking Yusuke down. "Have you seen Hiei recently?" she asked him innocently.

"Yeah, he's still looking for that psychic demon," he responded absently, more focused on his food than her question.

"Do you know where he is right now?"

"No, but Kurama could probably tell you."

Sigh. "Can you tell me where he lives?"

He looked at her in surprise. "Um, yeah, but won't you see him after school?"

"No, he's been going straight home, then out to look for that demon, just like you and Kuwabara have been doing."

He gave her the directions to Kurama's house after he wrote them down on a spare sheet of paper. She thanked him and waited impatiently for school to let out. Once it did, she ran for her locker, dumped everything, thanked God she didn't have any homework, and ran out the door. Michael already knew she probably wouldn't be walking home, so there wasn't a reason to tell him again.

After getting lost several times, she finally made it to Kurama's house. After ringing the doorbell, she waited a few moments and a woman Robin assumed was his mother answered the door. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Um, yes, my name is Robin, and I was wondering if Ku--, I mean, Shuichi is home yet?"

The woman smiled. "I don't think he's left yet. Come in, come in." The woman opened the door wider so Robin could enter, and then closed it behind her. "It's not often when Shuichi's friends come over. I'll tell him you're here." She walked over to the stairs while Robin sat down in the living room. "Shuichi, a friend of yours is here to see you."

"Coming, Mother," his voice answered. Footsteps on the stairway signaled his arrival. When he saw who it was, he stopped. "Oh, hello, Robin, I wasn't expecting you." He sat down in a chair next to hers, and his mother left them alone.

"I came to ask if you knew where Hiei was," she said, getting straight to the point. Well, one of them.

"At this particular moment, no," he admitted, "but he'll probably be over tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yes, he's taken to staying here with me since we haven't caught Gotenmaru yet."

"Why hasn't he come home?"

"He doesn't want to relax while he's still on the job. It's not because he doesn't want to go home," he quickly assured her. He paused. "Did you want to wait here for him?"

"Oh, no, it wouldn't be right if you went out and I stayed here," she said, but he waved her words aside.

"No, I would stay with you."

"Don't you normally go out to find Gotenmaru around now?" she asked, confused.

He smiled. "Normally, yes, but one day won't make much difference. We found him before; we can find him again. Besides, Hiei hasn't had much luck locating him lately, so odds are he won't find him again today. Once he gives up he'll come here." His expression grew curious. "Why did you want to know where he is? I don't believe that he's been gone for longer than usual."

"I have some news for him," she said, unwilling to tell the redhead about their true relationship with the fire Koorime since he obviously didn't know about it. "Also, I have some news for you. I can tell you now or I can tell you when Hiei's here."

He grew thoughtful. "Is it good news or bad news?"

"For him, it's both good and bad. For you…I think for you it's all bad news." She looked down so she wouldn't have to see his now troubled expression.

"If it's bad, then I think I want to hear it now."

_Figures. Now I have to give bad news to two different people at two different times._ She lifted her face so she could look at him. "The first one you might already know. Kagome is in the hospital because of some sort of illness that's been going around. She was one of the first people to catch it."

"I'm sorry to hear that. No, I didn't know. I haven't seen Yusuke or Kuwabara for some time now. Was that it?"

"Unfortunately, no." She looked at her hands, unable to look at him when she told him the bad news. "Do you remember Serena Tsukino? The one Hiei seemed close to, but she stayed in Makai?" At his nod, which she saw out of her peripheral vision, she continued. "She's back."

His hand was suddenly grabbing her wrist, and she involuntarily looked up and met his gaze, green to green. "What did you say?" he asked hoarsely.

"She's back. She followed a demon through a portal and came here." She knew what was going through his mind; now she had to shatter his illusion. "Crystal and Jordan weren't with her."

His hand tensed. "I see. I suppose this was a spontaneous thing, and she was alone."

She shook her head. "No, this was planned. She had been watching this particular demon for some time before the portal opened."

"She didn't tell them about it?"

"No, she did tell them. They didn't come because they didn't want to, or rather, Jordan didn't because Crystal didn't want her to."

"And why was that?" His voice sounded as tense as his hand felt.

"It would've been dangerous for her in her condition."

"What condition?" Looking up, she saw that while he looked calm on the outside, his eyes were filled with panic.

"There isn't an easy way to tell you this," she started but couldn't go on. Kurama tightened his grip on her wrist and brought it up. Painfully. She gasped and met his eyes, but apparently he missed the signs that he was close to breaking her bones.

"What happened to her?" His voice was deadly quiet. He didn't even use this voice on the demon back in Makai. _I hope we have enough Hiruseki stones to pay for all the hospital bills we're going to have once he lets go._

"She's expecting a child any day now." There. It was out. And, of course, she forgot to look away and saw what she dreaded seeing in anyone: despair; with no hope left and nothing to live for. "She wasn't able to come because her husband and Crystal were afraid that it might hurt the baby."

Abruptly he let go of her and sagged against the back of his chair. His emerald green eyes, almost exactly like her own, were distant and full of unfathomable sorrow. "Why is Serena here, if Jordan was like that? Why didn't Crystal come?" She could barely hear him now.

"Apparently you forgot about the twin bond between Jordan and Crystal. If Jordan wasn't allowed to come, then Crystal wasn't about to go without her. Besides, she has an infant to look after now. Serena's here because she isn't needed in Makai anymore, and she doesn't have a child or husband to hold her back." She paused, then asked hesitantly, "Did you want me to leave?"

He shook his head. "No, you need to tell Hiei still." He put his head in his right hand so it covered his eyes. "I can't say I was expecting this," he muttered.

"I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you, but I figured that I might as well since I had to see you anyway." Robin leaned over and patted his hand sympathetically. He only shook his head, not taking it out of his hand. Then the rest of him started to shake. Not wanting his mother to come in and see why her baby was upset, she tugged gently on his hand, urging him up. "Let's go somewhere else," she pleaded with the distraught boy, not sure if he could hear her through his grief. Apparently she was wrong because he nodded and trudged haltingly up the steps with her in his wake.

After a few turns, he entered a door, and she followed him, closing said door behind them. Turning around, she suddenly wished she hadn't. They were in his bedroom. "Don't," Kurama commanded hoarsely when she made to reopen it. How he could see what she was doing with his back to her wasn't something she could comprehend. Not sure what to do next, she stood uncertainly by the door while he sank down on his bed and covered his face with his hands. "You can sit on the chair," he said, his voice muffled by his hands.

Assuming he meant the one by the desk, she sat down and looked around. It was orderly, even more so than Michael's room. There was nothing in here to suggest that this wasn't a human boy living here and a demon thief was. Well, there was an extra bed on the floor, but that was for Hiei, probably. Turning her attention to the desk, she noticed the unfinished math homework. _I don't think he's going to be finishing this tonight._ Looking closer, she realized that this was stuff she'd seen Michael do. "Um, Kurama? I don't think you'll be in any condition to finish your homework tonight, and since I'm the bearer of bad news, did you want me to do this? It would only be fair," she added.

"No, I'll do it," he sighed, dragging himself off the bed and to her side. "I don't think you would understand this."

"Actually, I've watched Michael do this kind of thing, and he explained it to me, so I could do this for you."

"No, it's better to keep busy when something's wrong." He seemed to be debating something. Then, "Here. You can do this for me, and I'll do the rest." He gave her half of what he had left and he took the rest back to his bed.

"Okay, we have Japanese and Chemistry," she muttered under her breath. "Not bad. I can do this." Within two hours she had completed the assignments. Pleased with herself, she turned around to see if Kurama needed any help. To her surprise, he was still staring at his math homework, and it didn't look like he even got to his English assignments. "Kurama?"

He looked up. "It's not making sense right now," he choked out. In his eyes she could see unshed tears.

"Here, let me do it." Ignoring his weak protests, she joined him and started working on his math homework. This took her a while because she wasn't used to this kind of math and he wasn't helping her at all, trying to get his work back and all, but she prevailed and hauled his English book over. This didn't take her long at all since she was very familiar with the language, both verbal and written. When she was finished, she lugged both books back to his desk and put them on top of his other textbooks. Once that task was completed, she sat down next to him on the bed again. "Now you're homework's done," she stated.

"You didn't have to do that," he said reproachfully. "I would've done it eventually."

"But now you don't have to worry about it," she pointed out.

"I also have nothing to distract me." He looked like he was about to cry.

_I hope he doesn't take offense to this._ Before she could lose her nerve, she leaned over and hugged him. That released the floodgates, and he crumpled against her, sobbing. She held him and rocked back and forth, just like she did with Hiei when he was younger. _This is a bit strange, but I'm just glad he isn't trying to hold it in himself like he was earlier. This is probably going to last a while if this is releasing his pent-up emotions ever since the summer._

She was right; it did last for a while. It was surprising that his mother didn't come up. Even if she didn't hear her son crying, wouldn't she have wondered what she and her son were doing? They had been up here for quite a while.

She looked out the window and bit back a gasp. It was completely dark outside. _How long have I been here?_ She was still holding Kurama, rubbing his back in small circles and making soft soothing noises.

He murmured something softly through his sobs. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Robin bent her head down so she could hear what he was trying to say.

"The window," he repeated.

Not sure she was hearing him correctly, she asked, "Did you want me to open the window?" When she felt him nod, she started to get up, but was yanked back down when he clung to her and refused to let go. "I guess you're coming with me," she huffed. Pushing harder, she managed to stagger up and support both herself and Kurama. Hobbling over to the window, she used her free hand to open it. _Anyone watching us is probably dying of laughter right about now. I bet this isn't something people see every day._ Unable to support both of them, she half-lunged--half-fell back onto the bed and resumed soothing the still-distraught Kurama. This was how Hiei found them.


	15. Chapter 15

**I've been really, really busy, so I haven't had much time to anything like updating. I apologize; last week was very hectic, but I'm hoping that'll all go down. There's slightly more action in this chapter, for those of you who were bored by the last one.**

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A noise outside the window caused Robin to glance over, then stare. Hiei climbed through the window, saw Kurama and Robin together on the bed, and froze in shock. Partly because Robin was there and he wasn't expecting her and partly because Kurama was still sobbing his heart out, but mostly because Kurama had his arms around _his_ mother's waist and _she_ was holding him and rubbing circles on his back. He and Robin stared at each other, but Kurama didn't even look up. "Do you mind explaining this?" Hiei asked Robin in a conversational tone even though his face and body language said he was absolutely floored by this.

"I gave him some bad news," Robin answered, still rocking the crying boy.

"And this is why he didn't come to look for Gotenmaru this afternoon?"

"Yes."

Hiei took a deep breath and started to address Kurama, but Robin's glare effectively stopped him. She recognized that start; it was universal. Hiei was about to give him what females around the world had named the "Macho Pep Talk". It varied in who said it and how it was said, but the message was always the same: "Suck it up and be a man". Robin knew he was going to give Kurama the speech, but she wasn't going to have any of that.

"Robin, why is it you're here?" Hiei asked her.

"I had to deliver some bad news to Kurama, but the main reason was to find you," she answered. Kurama tensed in her arms. She made soothing sounds again until he relaxed again.

He looked at her warily. "You've found me," he said, trying to cover up his confusion. "Is there some bad news for me as well?"

"As a matter of fact, there is, but there's also good news."

"Very well. Tell me." His voice was distant, but his aura was shot with anxiety. "Is it what made him so upset?"

"The bad news isn't. The good news it tied into why he's like this. Um, I don't think this is the best place to tell you. I think Kurama would rather not hear this again."

"Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he's quite ready to let go of you," Hiei observed as she futilely tried to disengage his arms from her person. He wasn't sobbing anymore; tears still ran down his face, but it wasn't anything like it was before Hiei showed up.

"Kurama, did you plan on letting me go home anytime soon?" she asked teasingly, trying to lighten his mood up.

He shook his head. "Then what did you expect me to do?"

"Stay," he mumbled.

She shared a look with Hiei. "Kurama, I don't think you're thinking clearly," she told him. "Do you think your mother would let a girl she's never seen before stay overnight in her son's room?"

"That won't be a problem," Hiei said. When she looked at him, he explained in further detail. "I saw her leave before I came in."

"She just left us up here?" Robin was astounded.

Hiei shrugged. "She trusts him. She probably thinks that you'll be gone when she comes back."

She sighed. "Well, if I'm staying here tonight, then I'll tell you later, okay, Hiei?"

Seeing that the fox wouldn't let go of her, the fire demon nodded. "I'll get some extra pillows," he said, leaving the room.

Robin turned her attention to the boy still clinging to her like she was his lifeline. "Okay, I'm staying. Happy now?"

He looked up. "Happier," he admitted. Sniffing, he let go of her. "I really need to pull myself together," he said to his bedspread. "Normally I'm not like this."

"Normally you don't get news like that," Robin said gently, covering one of his hands with hers. "If you need me again tonight, I guess I'll be in here with you and Hiei."

At this point Hiei decided to rejoin them. He threw them down on the inflatable bed and flopped down next to them. Looking up at the two on the main bed, he said, "I'm going to borrow your shower again."

"Feel free," Kurama stated as he watched his friend dig through his drawers. "I suppose you'll want to use it also," he addressed Robin.

She blushed. "If it isn't too much trouble."

Kurama smiled. "I'll get you something to wear tonight, then. You'll be much easier to find something for than Hiei." He took out a white shirt and some boxers and gave them to her. "They are both clean," he assured her.

"I didn't think they weren't," she answered, taking them from him. Lines of exhaustion lay around his eyes. "You need to sleep," she reprimanded him.

"I'll be fine," he protested. Unfortunately, Robin was now in "mother mode" and practically dragged him over to the bed. Pulling back the covers, she sat him down and would've gone back down to the inflatable bed, but his hand snagged her before she could. "Please don't go yet," he begged. In his eyes she could see that he still needed a friend there to hold him. Smiling sadly, she hugged and rocked him again, though this time he didn't cry. He still clung to her, but he didn't cry. She kept this up until she heard his breathing deepen and even out. Carefully, she looked down. Yup, he was asleep. Leaning over, she tried to get him to let go, but even in sleep he didn't want to let go. After many failed attempts, she just gave up and waited for Hiei to come out and help her. Once their goal was accomplished, Robin grabbed her loaned clothes and dashed for the bathroom.

Inside the shower she found everything she needed for that particular night; that is, shampoo, conditioner, and body soap. Sure, there were a couple of extra odds and ends in there, but she didn't touch those. Coming out she quickly dried herself off and put the clothes on. She folded her school clothes since that would be what she would wear tomorrow also and reentered the bedroom.

"What was that about?" Hiei demanded quietly, unwilling to wake up Kurama.

_Here we go again._ "I'm going to tell you the good news first," she started. "I know that's not how we normally start things off, but if I tell you the bad news, then you'll run off and I won't get a chance to tell you the good news."

"And this is bad news for Kurama?"

"Sort of. The two are related, but what upset him won't affect you quite so much."

"Is it about Shiori?"

"No. Um, I'm not going to beat around the bush anymore. Serena's back from Makai."

There was no visible change in his demeanor. "So there's news about Jordan, then?"

"Yes. She couldn't come because she's going to have a child very soon now, so her husband and Crystal wouldn't let her come back to Ningenkai. They didn't know if it would hurt the baby, and they weren't going to take that chance."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "A child?"

"She and Crystal are married now, and Crystal has an infant. Now do you see why he was so upset?"

"And you say Serena came through the barrier?"

"Yes, she's the one who told us."

"I thought she was supposed to protect the village since their shield was broken."

"Crystal fixed it, so she didn't feel obligated to stay. She liked Makai at first, but I don't think she wants to stay there for the rest of her life if she can help it. That's probably why she didn't get married like the other two; she didn't want something tying her to that place."

That shocked him. "She isn't married?"

Robin shook her head. "But that was the good news. Now, I want you to promise me that you won't go rushing off once I tell you." He warily nodded, so she continued. "It's about Kagome. She isn't well right now."

"What's wrong with her?" he asked worriedly.

_I guess he doesn't feel like he has to hide his true emotions since Kurama's asleep and he trusts me._ "She's in the hospital. She's in a coma, but she's stable, and the doctors don't think that it's fatal. You said you wouldn't run off," she reminded him when he looked at the window.

"I need to see her," he pleaded with her. She saw him visibly steel himself. "Please?" Robin could tell it killed him to say that.

"Come back immediately," she ordered, and he was gone before she could blink twice. Leaving the window open for him, she lay down on the extra bed and waited for him. A sound from downstairs a few minutes later caused her to sit up and look at the door. Looking up at the bed where Kurama still lay unconscious, she sighed. "I guess I'd better go tell his mother that I'm still here."

Quietly getting out of bed, she staggered up and walked out the door, partly closing it behind her. Her bare feel didn't make a sound against the cold floor. Making her way down the stairs, she followed the sounds to the living room. What she saw wasn't his mother.

A bald man in a long brown trench coat was bent over a small table. Judging from his wrinkled skin, he wasn't Kurama's father. "Um, excuse me?" she called.

The man whipped around, eyes wide. When he saw her, his small mouth twisted, and he pointed at her. Recognizing the gesture from her hunting days, she threw herself behind the couch as a dark hole appeared where her middle would have been.

_Great, so now I'm dealing with a witch._ Risking a peek over the edge, she saw him pointing at the chair she was hiding behind. _Not good._ Focusing on him, she called her fire onto his clothes, praying that she wouldn't set fire to anything else and destroy Kurama's home.

The old man screamed, and Robin could smell his flesh roasting through his fire-soaked coat. _How am I going to explain this?_ she thought as the man fell to the floor. _Maybe I can just get him to the hospital and pay for his injuries? We have enough Hiruseki stones._ Grabbing a blanket that had been previously draped over the back of the couch, she beat the flames off the man, but he was already dead. Horrified, she backed away, her hands over her mouth. _There is a dead body in Kurama's living room that wasn't there previously. From the looks of him, he was homeless, but that doesn't help me now. How do I get rid of this before Kurama or one of his family members comes home?_

Picking up the blanket she had used to beat out the flames, she considered putting it back on the couch, but the big black hole in the middle convinced her not to. _So now I have to get rid of the blanket, too. I hope it wasn't important to them._ She wrapped the body in the blanket, flinching when her hand touched him and trying to hold her breath; the reek of burning flesh was almost unbearable. It make its way into her mouth, making her choke, but she still manhandled her bundle out the back door. Glancing around, she made sure that no one was around and, putting the body on the driveway, set fire to the whole thing. The body and blanket burned to ashes, but left a scorch mark where it used to be. Well, that couldn't be helped.

That job done, she went back inside, but the living room still smelled like a human barbeque. "How am I going to get rid of this stench?" she asked aloud, looking around. _Candles! Where would his Mom keep candles?_ After a fruitless search of the drawers in the living room, she ran to the kitchen and found her prize. Looking them all over, she picked ones that she thought would have the strongest scents and put them around the room, lighting them with her fire as she went. Once the candles were strategically placed around the room where they wouldn't be seen and couldn't set the house on fire, she looked around the room, left for a few seconds, and reentered, inhaling deeply. There was still a faint odor of roasted flesh, but unless someone who worked around burned bodies came into the room, they wouldn't be able to tell what happened.

Satisfied with her handiwork, though still disgusted with herself, she went back upstairs, turning off the lights as she went. To her surprise, Kurama was still deeply asleep. She shrugged and sat back down on the inflated bed and checked her watch. All of her efforts had taken a total of twenty-two minutes, and Hiei still wasn't back. Not that she expected him back so early. Her skin was still crawling, remembering the feel of his blackened skin and how it crunched when her hand came in contact with it. She could still smell his burning skin. Shivering, she stood and searched Kurama's closet and took out another shirt. She located a pair of boxers in one of his drawers with much blushing. Her items in hand, she crept to the bathroom, locked the door, and ripped her clothes off as fast as she could and leaped into the shower. She was intent on scrubbing that stench off her skin as well as the feel of skin flaking off in her hand.

When she was done, her watch said Hiei had been gone for fifty minutes. So she had been in the shower for twenty-eight minutes scrubbing the skin off her own body. She smelled strongly of roses now, but underneath, she caught the faint tang of burned flesh. Probably her imagination, but that was hard to tell her nose. She tried to sleep, but that faint odor kept her awake and made her twitchy. When Hiei came back through the window, she nearly jumped out of her skin. "You were only gone for an hour. What happened?" she asked, sitting up and trying to slow her racing heart.

The fire demon looked very worried and frustrated. "Why did this have to happen to her?" he asked Robin. "She's never done anything to deserve this."

"I know," she said soothingly. "I suggest you sleep on it. You're tired and probably not thinking straight. Thing will be better in the morning. What are you doing?" she asked when he got down on the floor. _Is that a new scar on his arm? I don't think that was there before he left. I really hope that you didn't do anything dangerous, Hiei._

"Going to sleep," he answered gruffly, his back to her.

"On the floor?"

"Well, you're on the bed."

"Since when did that matter?"

"Since we came to Kurama's home."

"If that's the case, then you stay on the bed. You were here first, after all."

"No, I'm fine."

"Hiei, you're staying on the bed."

"No, you are."

"Okay, we'll both stay on the bed. Hiei," she warned when he opened his mouth to protest again, "listen to me. You will stay on the bed. If it makes you that uncomfortable, then I'll stay on the floor, but you need this more than I do."

"Fine," he muttered sullenly, crawling next to her.

She started counting the seconds silently. _One, two, three…_ She got to fifteen when he turned over and latched onto her, not unlike what Kurama had done all afternoon, except Hiei wasn't crying; he just needed to know she was there. She basically repeated what she did for Kurama, and she felt him relax. _Poor baby. Maybe it would've been kinder to let him stay ignorant. He is closer to Kagome than he is to the rest of us._ Looking down, she saw him fast asleep, still holding onto her. She smiled, albeit sadly. _I hate bringing bad news to people, especially Hiei. He's suffered so much already, and now he's about to lose his surrogate mother. I don't know how much more he can take. At least he didn't smell that burned scent on me. I don't know what I would've told him if he'd asked._

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	16. Chapter 16

**I'm sorry for not updating sooner, y'all. I haven't had any time, and I had to type out another chapter of my other story, and I've just had too much to do. However, I'm updating now, so everyone should be happy about that. Not much action, but Kurama does confront Hiei with something. I'll shut up now and just let y'all read. Enjoy.**

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Kurama woke up the next morning feeling drained still. _I wish yesterday was just a dream. Why did it affect me like that? I knew she asked me to move on, but I didn't think she'd forget me so quickly._ Rubbing his eyes, he swung his feet over the edge of his bed, looked down, and stared. Now this wasn't something you saw every day. Hiei was still on the bed. Asleep. In Robin's arms.

"Did I miss something?" he asked aloud.

Unfortunately, his question woke up Robin. Still halfway asleep, she raised her head and looked up at him. "Good morning," she said, smiling.

"Good morning," he responded. "What happened last night?" he asked, indicating her and the still sleeping Hiei.

"Oh." She blushed. "He needed some comfort after his bad news, just like you did."

"How did you get him to stay on the bed with you?" he asked curiously.

"We came up with a compromise. He wanted me to stay on it, but I wanted him to stay on it, so we both just decided to stay together."

_I never would've guessed that Hiei would fall for a ningen. That's the only explanation I can think of to explain this. I would've thought he'd die before sleeping in the same bed as a ningen, and a female one at that! I'm afraid that he's become a little too attached to the residents of the Higurashi Shrine._

"Um, Kurama? Do you mind if I change really fast?" Robin was asking him.

"Oh, no, go ahead. Would you like me to leave?"

"No, I'll just change in the bathroom. Tell me when it's safe to come out."

"Of course."

He watched as she tried to get Hiei to let go of her and failed. "Here, let me help," he offered. Kneeling beside her, he carefully slid her shirt out of Hiei's fists. _This isn't the shirt I gave her last night? Did she not like it?_ "He looks so peaceful when he sleeps," he commented as Robin got her clothes together.

"Yes, he does," she agreed. Once she closed the bathroom door he quickly go out his school uniform and put it on. He was just running a comb through his long hair when Robin called him. "Kurama?"

"I'm decent," he replied, not looking away from the mirror. He heard her open the door.

"Thank you for letting me use your clothes," she said.

"Thank you for staying," he responded. "I needed you yesterday."

"I know."

When he turned around, she was looking at Hiei with a somewhat tender look on her face that disappeared when she noticed him looking at her. Deciding to ignore it for now, he stood up and started getting his homework into his backpack. "I'm surprised he's still here," he said conversationally. "Most of the time he's already gone by the time I'm awake."

"He had a rough day yesterday," Robin reminded him. "Besides, I think he needs this extra rest."

Kurama was about to say something else, but movement on the bed jerked his attention back to Hiei. The small demon was just beginning to stir. Kurama was surprised at how innocent he looked when he first woke up; he reminded him of a child, almost. The fox observed how Hiei slowly opened his eyes, and how his face transformed when the first thing he saw was Robin. Love and trust were shining on both their faces. _Interesting. I'll have to remember this._

Then they noticed him watching them and the emotions vanished instantly, like they never existed. "I'm glad you're finally up," he said to Hiei's glare and Robin's neutral glance.

Hiei gave his usual "Hn" and got up. Robin moved to give him a hand, but he ignored it. "Shouldn't you two still be asleep?" he asked.

"It's 6:30," Kurama informed him. "You slept late."

Hiei's eyes darted to the alarm clock. "How is that possible?" he asked more to himself than either Kurama or Robin. "I never get up this late."

"You've been running yourself ragged ever since we started looking for Gotenmaru," Kurama reminded him. "I think all the lack of sleep has been catching up to you."

"You needed the extra sleep," Robin added. "But enough of that. We need to get to school." That last comment was directed at Kurama.

"You are correct," Kurama agreed.

She smiled. "Shall we?"

"If you want to go down, go ahead. I'll join you in a second." Once she left, he turned to Hiei. "Care to explain?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No."

"I don't think a 'no' is going to cut it, Hiei."

"I do."

"Hiei." He had a warning note in his voice. "You know you can't get emotionally attached to these people. If Koenma finds out just how attached you are, he'll put someone else on the case."

"I've had this case for two years," Hiei reminded him coolly.

"That's an awfully long time to have found out as little as you have. I know you've found the fossilized power and the well, but what else? You haven't told Koenma that the well connects the past with the present or that people actually use it."

"So?"

"You'll have to tell him eventually."

"I can't do that. He'll close the well."

"Why would that matter? If demons come through, then he'll find out. Besides, what happens if Tanner finds out? There won't be anything you could do then. And you can't be on this case for the rest of your life."

"I don't plan to," Hiei said curtly. "I just haven't found the real source of power."

"It isn't the well?" _Who does he think he's talking to? He can't out-lie me._

Hiei shook his head. "It's something else. The well may contribute to it, but I think it's the combined power of the fossilized power and someone."

"Kagome?"

"No," he said, a little too quickly. "She doesn't have enough power for those blasts, even combined with her ancestors' power."

"Robin, then? She is quite extraordinary. Especially getting you to take comfort in her."

"No, she has no miko power at all. Even you would've felt it if she did. It might be Kagome's brother, Sota."

"It's a start, I suppose," Kurama sighed. "I can't believe you haven't found out more. As you said earlier, you've been on the case for two years, and that's all you've come up with."

"I'm working on it," the fire demon snapped. "I have to walk carefully around Tanner, and I keep getting called off the job to do something else, like hunting for Gotenmaru."

"I would love to continue this conversation, but I'm afraid school calls, and my mother will probably want an explanation as to why Robin is still here." Kurama rose and, grabbing his schoolbag, sauntered out the door. He didn't hear any screaming coming from downstairs, so he didn't think things were going too badly. He poked his head in the kitchen and saw Robin talking amiably with his mother at the table. "Good morning," he greeted Shiori as he sat down.

"I didn't know she was spending the night," Shiori commented as she passed him an egg omelet.

"We didn't know, either, until later," he said, accepting the plate. "She and Hiei stayed in my room."

"Oh, I didn't know Hiei was here, too," his mother remarked.

"He left earlier," he informed her, eating his food. "Robin, we need to go or we'll be late."

"Have fun you two," Shiori called after them as they walked down the driveway and towards their schools.

"I'm sorry to hear about Kagome," he said. "I guess Hiei took it hard."

She looked down. "Yes," she replied.

"Do you know why?" he prodded.

"He seems to be closer to her than the rest of us," she answered. "Not that he's very close to any of us," she hastily added.

"That's odd," Kurama murmured.

"Why?"

"Hiei doesn't care about anyone except Yukina."

"Who's Yukina?"

"His sister, though she doesn't know it yet."

"He has a sister?" She sounded surprised.

"Yes. She left her home to find him, but for some reason he refuses to tell her who he is." _Now why didn't he mention Yukina to her?_

"I'm…sure he has his reasons," she said doubtfully.

They came to their intersection. "I guess I don't know when I'll see you again," Kurama started, "but don't be a stranger. I can't guarantee that I'll be home, but feel free to drop by any time."

She smiled. "Same to you," she said, "though I probably will be at my home. Unless I'm at the hospital." She dropped her smile at that last bit. "Anyway, take care."

&&

"Where were you last night?" Michael demanded once he saw her.

"At Kurama's," she replied. "I needed to tell him about Jordan, and he knew where Hiei was."

"That still doesn't explain why you stayed all night."

"He needed me."

"He needed you," he repeated, like he wasn't sure he heard her correctly.

"Yes. He asked me to stay, so I did. It was a good thing I did, actually. Hiei needed someone to comfort him also, and I couldn't have done that if I was at home."

He looked like he was going to scold her more, but the warning bell sang out, so he just stalked to class. She slid into her seat a before the tardy bell rang, so she had some extra time to breathe and get herself back into the mindset of 'school'. Unfortunately, before she could even start, Yusuke and Kuwabara came in and sat down next to her. "So, I heard Michael was in a tizzy about you not being home on time," Yusuke started out.

"Kurama wanted me to stay, so I did."

"He's never done that before," Kuwabara said.

"I gave him some distressing news, so I was there for moral support more than anything else."

The final bell sounded, so they went to their assigned seats. Looking around the room, Robin noticed how many people were missing due to the sickness that was going around. _So many are gone, and the doctors still don't know how to cure it, or even what it is._

At lunch Michael refused to even look at her. The four of the just sat there, not saying much. Once he was finished, Michael stood up and left for class early, leaving Robin to stare after him. Kuwabara followed her gaze and said soothingly, "He was just worried about you. Don't worry about it; he'll forgive you."

"I hope you're right," she said, packing up her stuff. "I'm going to class early, too, so I'll see you guys tomorrow. Good luck looking for Gotenmaru," she called over her shoulder.

At the end of the day, Michael was there waiting for her like he usually did, but he still didn't look or say anything to her. They walked halfway home in silence before Robin broke it. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Michael," she said.

"I know," he replied to the white fence they were passing.

"Then why won't you look at me?" she asked, frustrated.

He turned to her. His eyes were filled with worry and hurt. "You could've at least called," he reprimanded her. "What was I supposed to think, anyway? How was I to know that something didn't happen while you were on your way back?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated softly. "I was busy yesterday, but I'll try to call next time."

"I guess I'll have to accept that," Michael said. "Alright, you're forgiven now. Happy?" He smiled to show he actually did forgive her.

She smiled back at him. "While I'm thinking about it, how have the interviews been?"

They chatted away the rest of the walk. Robin learned that he was done with everything, and they would start work during the summer. "That's good," she said. "I'll be glad to have a break every now and then. How many days do they work?"

"Just three times a week."

Their chatter wandered from subject to subject, not settling on any particular topic for a long period of time. They were just happy to be on speaking terms again.

Upon entering the house, they were greeted with an unexpected sight. Inuyasha was leaning against the wall of the kitchen while Miroku and Sango were sitting in two of the chairs, watching their children crawl around. "We weren't expecting company," Michael said. "Nice to see you guys again."

The married couple stood up and Inuyasha leaned away from the wall. "Sorry to barge in on you like this, but Kira started bothering us again, and when Inuyasha told us what happened to Kagome, we couldn't stay away," Miroku explained.

"Feel free to stay as long as you like," Robin said politely. "I'll go set up the beds." Turning to Inuyasha, she asked, "Are you going to want a room, too, or are you just going to use Kagome's room?"

He blushed and muttered, "I'll just stay in her room."

She smiled at the embarrassed hanyou and left them. _No rest for the weary. Oh, well, they're family. It shouldn't be bad._

&&

Kurama smiled at a random girl in the hallway as he headed out the door and watched her swoon. _There's not much point in doing that. It won't make me like her any more and probably less. At least my friends don't do that. Jordan didn't do that, either. No! Stop that right now! She's married now, and won't think twice about you again. You just need to move on, like she told you to._

He stopped at the crosswalk and waited for the lights to turn along with a crowd of other people. _I don't know why I couldn't focus in school today. True, yesterday was trying, but I've had more trying days. This just isn't my week._ He saw the people around him start to cross the street, so he moved also. _I can't afford to be distracted, especially if I run into Gotenmaru._ A rush of dizziness came upon him once his foot touched the curb. _What's this? No, it can't be! I refuse to believe it._ He was still arguing with himself when blackness covered his vision. _I can't be sick…_

&&


	17. Chapter 17

Alrighty, everyone, this is the last chapter. If I'd remembered, I would've warned y'all, but I didn't remember, so I didn't. Sorry about that. Read the end of this and send me your thoughts.

&&

Robin was playing with Misao when Yusuke rushed in. "Hi," she greeted him when she saw who it was. "I thought you'd be looking for Gotenmaru."

"I was," he wheezed, "but I just found out something I thought you'd like to know."

"It must be important if you ran all the way up the shrine steps," she noted. "Okay, tell me."

"It's Kurama."

Her head snapped over in his direction. "What about him?" she asked calmly, though her reactions said she was anything but calm.

"He's come down with the sickness."

Robin felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her. "When did this happen?"

"Just after school. His mother's with him right now, and she said that he's no worse than the others. No better, either, but at least we know he's not going to die anytime soon."

"And the doctors still don't know what's wrong with them. How long has it been since they discovered this disease?"

He shrugged. "I have to go out and search again, but I thought you'd want to know."

"Thank you, Yusuke," she said, and he left.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Inuyasha asked when he came into the room. She explained things to him. "You know, we could help him," the hanyou said thoughtfully.

"You'd do that?" Sango asked, joining them.

"Keh! There's been no challenge recently; this would be good exercise," he snorted. "You know, I think I'll do that. See you guys later." He was out the door before they could say anything.

"I hope he remembers to stay away from populated places," Sango sighed. "He forgot his hat, and his ears tend to make him a little more conspicuous than we would like."

"He should be fine," Robin assured her. _I hope._ "Let's start dinner. When he comes home, he'll probably want something to eat."

&&

_No!_ Hiei internally screamed as Gotenmaru dodged his attack once again. _How did he get this fast? He wasn't this fast or powerful last time I saw him. And where's Kurama? This is the second day he hasn't come to help._

"Give up," Gotenmaru sneered as he dodged yet another attack. "You can't even touch me."

Hiei took another swipe at him with his sword, but hit nothing but air. Again. "Stop running and fight," Hiei shouted, frustrated that he was missing every time. All he got was malevolent laughter as an answer.

He growled low in his throat. They had been playing this game for some time, and though Hiei would never admit it out loud, he was getting tired. He'd found him before the sun had gone down, and now it was almost pitch-black except for the tiny sliver of moon left and the stars._ I don't know how long I can keep this up._

"Just give up," Gotenmaru said again. "What do humans mean to you, anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Hiei asked harshly.

"Where do you think I've gotten all this power? It has to come from somewhere, and humans have so much of it. I just took some. Of course, they collapsed afterward, but what does it matter? They're still alive and able to donate their energy to me."

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "So there is no disease; it's all been you sapping their strength."

"That is correct. Not that it matters to you since you're a demon."

"I can't let you keep taking their energy," Hiei snarled.

"Then you would be opposing me, and I have to get rid of all that oppose me or else I'd never get anywhere. Good bye, opponent."

"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" a familiar voice yelled, and a figure in red slashed the advancing demon.

Gotenmaru screamed and leaped back, glaring at the new assailant. "Who are you?" he hissed.

"So, you're the one who put Kagome and Kurama under that spell," he said instead of answering him.

"He has Kurama?" Hiei asked.

"Yeah, got him this afternoon. That's why he isn't here now."

Gotenmaru was glaring at him. "How could you hit me?" he asked in disbelief. "It shouldn't have been possible for you to have even come close."

Inuyasha snorted. "You weren't paying attention. It wasn't all that hard." Flexing his claws, he continued, "Anyway, I'm here to get rid of you."

"Hah! A weakling like you? I was unprepared earlier, but now you don't have the element of surprise."

"We'll see," he smirked. "If you're ready, then let's get on with it."

Gotenmaru vanished. Inuyasha looked around, trying to locate his scent rather than see him. Unfortunately, Gotenmaru showed up behind him and was about to put a sword through his stomach, but Hiei slammed into him, putting him off-balance. Inuyasha turned around and slashed him with his claws. He almost got him, but the sly demon flipped and Inuyasha had to divert his attack or he'd have hit Hiei. In the confusion that followed, Gotenmaru shook off Hiei and disappeared again. This time he ran into Hiei, causing the fire demon to go down. Noticing that Inuyasha's attention was now on the down fire Koorime, he sliced right where Inuyasha stood. Or, had been standing. While the full demon looked around in confusion, Inuyasha came down on top of him and proceeded to cut off his right arm before he got away again. As was expected, Gotenmaru was not expecting this and wasn't happy about it. "You'll pay for that, half-breed," he snarled.

"I think not," Hiei said, coming up behind him and stabbing him through the back. Gotenmaru stiffened, then slowly toppled over, dead.

"That wasn't so hard," Inuyasha commented, grabbing Hiei's arm and lifting him up. "What took you so long to do that?"

"He was a psychic demon," Hiei said through gritted teeth. "He was attacking my mentally as well as physically. But I would've done it eventually. Why didn't he do that to you?"

"Do what?" Inuyasha was more interested in how many wounds Hiei had gotten than what he was talking about.

"Attack your mind."

"Oh, that. He did."

"You didn't succumb?"

"Nope. He had to stop after the first few seconds. I kept up a strong offense, so if he tried to take my mind, I would've sliced him open."

"We need to get to the hospital," Hiei said quickly, moving in the general direction of the said building. "If he's dead, then the people will be waking up very shortly now."

"Kagome." They both ran, Inuyasha following Hiei since the fire demon knew how to get there. Once they arrived, they went in and were astounded at how many people Gotenmaru actually had a hold on. Inuyasha ran through them to Kagome's room with Hiei hot on his heels. She was still asleep, but showed signs of waking. They sat on either side of her bed, waiting anxiously. Their patience was rewarded. She moaned softly and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Inuyasha. Hiei watched her eyes fill with love, and the other's eyes reflected hers. Then she saw him. To his surprise, the love remained, and joy joined its fellow emotion.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you two," she said, her voice hoarse from disuse.

"You don't know how glad we are to see you awake," Inuyasha responded.

Hiei felt like he was intruding on them, and it made him distinctively uncomfortable. "I'm going to see how Kurama is," he told them, heading for the door.

"He got Kurama?" Kagome asked.

"Just this afternoon. I don't know how I missed the hooks in his mind. Anyway, I'm going to find him."

"Don't forget to come back," Kagome called right before he closed the door.

There were so many people milling around. It was almost impossible to navigate in there, and finally he had to use his Jagan in a secluded corner to find out where exactly the fox was hiding. Finding his quarry, he left the corner and wormed his way through to the redhead and his mother. When he came upon them, Kurama was talking with his mother, who was teary-eyed and hugging him. "Ku-Shuichi," Hiei called.

He turned around and saw who it was. "Hiei," he exclaimed. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"Well, I am," he said, a little nonplussed at his friend's tone, which was filled with surprise and gratitude.

"I'm going to get some water, Shuichi," his mother said. "I'll be right back. Would you like me to bring you some?"

"Yes, thank you, Mother," he replied lovingly.

"I'll get one for you, too, Hiei," she said right before she left.

"I thought you'd be looking for Gotenmaru," Kurama said once his mother was out of earshot.

"I found him," Hiei responded. "He's gone now."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't you have done that earlier?"

"Are you implying that I didn't kill him earlier because I enjoyed chasing him?" he asked acidly.

"That wasn't it at all," Kurama assured him, smiling nervously.

"Anyway, he was the reason so many people, including you, were in the hospital. He sapped your energy, and that's why everyone was unconscious, not dead. As long as the people were alive, he could use their energy. Now that he's gone, everyone's fine again."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Kurama apologized.

He brushed his words aside. "It's not like you could help it," he said.

He was about to say more, but Shiori returned with the promised water, so he drank it, and said he had to go see another friend of his. He went back to Kagome and Inuyasha, and the two men helped Kagome out of the hospital. From there, she got on Inuyasha's back and the two demons bounded home.

At the door, Hiei stopped. Inuyasha and Kagome had already gone in, and he could hear how glad everyone was for her to be back. However, he hadn't been there for a long time, and now there was a person there he was deathly afraid of facing. He could hear her voice, smell her scent. He would wait for everyone to finish their greetings, then he would enter. He turned around and started walking to the Goshinboku.

"Hiei?"

He whirled around. There she was, right behind him. Her cerulean eyes were filled with uncertainty as she watched him. "That is my name," he answered coolly.

"Come in," she invited. "They say you haven't been home for quite some time now."

"I was busy."

"Please come in," she pleaded. "They'll be glad to see you."

"And you won't?" he retorted. Then he thought about what he said. _Oops._

Her expression cleared. "Of course I'm glad to see you," she responded warmly. Before he could run away, she closed the distance between them and embraced him. "I'm glad you're okay," she murmured.

"Why would you think I wouldn't be?" he asked.

"I worry; with your job, can you blame me?"

"I guess not," he admitted. "Anyway, you wanted to go back in?"

She nodded. "Yes, let's."

&&

It was hard for Kagome to catch up on all the schoolwork she missed while she was "sick", but with Michael and Robin's help, she managed to get some of it down, though by no means all of it. Not that it really mattered; so many people missed that there was going to be an extended school year for those students. It wouldn't be all summer, but it would last into early June. She was a bit bummed, but at least she wouldn't have to repeat her sophomore year. Serena was a problem, though.

"I'm not being held back a year," she had protested when Michael approached her about the subject of her schooling since she was staying here. "I had to do just as much as I normally would in school, even more."

"English?" Michael asked.

"You can teach me," she pleaded. "I'm only lacking in certain areas. Please?" He finally gave in.

Now Kagome was about to take her history final. It was her last one, and she felt fairly confident with this one. Once Mr. Kenu gave the signal, she dug into it. She had to struggle with some things, but that was to be expected. What she knew of certain events weren't what the history books said, so she had to choose very carefully. A couple hours later, she turned in her test and ran out into freedom with the rest of her class. She felt like she could skip home, but that would've gotten her strange looks, so she just walked with an extra bounce in her step.

_When I get home, I know Inuyasha will be waiting for me. Then he'll probably try to convince me not to go back to school, and it's too dangerous in my time where he can't protect me. Oh well, I guess I should be used to it by now._

"It's about time you got here," Inuyasha said when she entered.

_Here we go again._

End Part IV

Okay, this is going to start to wrap up in the next few stories. I'm working on the next one, so it's not done, but I'll post when it is if anyone wants to read. If no one does, then that's cool, too. I might post anyway. I'll work more on it tonight, but this is the end of this story. Hopefully I'll see everyone in the next story.


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